


Just A Classic PTA Romance

by dinolaur



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: ADHD Lance, Autistic Keith, F/M, Gen, Kid Fic, PTSD mentioned, Single Parent AU, basically just domestic af
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-09-15 08:25:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 25,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9226613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dinolaur/pseuds/dinolaur
Summary: Shiro and Allura's lives are turned a bit upside down when they receive calls that their sons have been sent to the principal's office for fighting at recess.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So basically this is a product of wanting to see Lance and Allura develop a sibling like relationship, loving the Brogane headcanons, and my burning need to churn out kid fic for every fandom I participate in. Age wise, Allura and Shiro are in their early 30s, Keith, Lance, and Hunk are in second grade, and Pidge is around 3.

Allura has high hopes in the beginning of the year. She still gets emotional on every first day of school, but by second grade, she has learned to rein it in when she walks Lance up to his classroom. Day care and pre-school had been hard, kindergarten had really hurt, and she honestly didn’t know how she was supposed to make it through first grade when her little boy would finally be staying through for a whole eight hours. But she’s had the year to get used to it, and second grade she thinks is going to go along great. 

This year Lance and Hunk are finally in the same class, and the two boys nearly knock their mothers over in the pickup line in their enthusiastic glee. Allura does have to have a pretty long talk with Lance about the importance of not letting how happy he is to have his best friend in class with him distract him and cause him to misbehave. 

Lance promises, and Allura knows everything will work out wonderfully. Hunk is a calming presence for her overactive son and has already figured out a few methods of helping Lance concentrate and get through his schoolwork. 

For the first few weeks, everything is fine. She gets some expected calls, concerns from the teachers about Lance not being able to sit still or the opposite when he focuses in so hard they can’t seem to pull him out of it without a near meltdown. She has to remind them about the medication and sometimes there are fights about getting the teachers to use some alternate methods with Lance, because it isn’t his fault that he has ADHD and he shouldn’t be punished for his brain working differently from the other kids, and is it not their jobs as educators to handle this, especially when Allura has done extensive research with help from Lance’s doctor to offer examples of said alternative methods? 

But it’s all mostly just fine until she looks down at the caller ID to see Lance’s school one afternoon. She answers, expecting yet another update about some ADHD moment they’re unsure of how to handle, but at the news that Lance was in a fight during recess, she is out the door, hollering for Coran to handle things for her until tomorrow. 

It takes her nearly a half hour to get across town against all the traffic returning from lunch, and by the time she makes it to the front office, Allura is basically flying on the wings of fury. She doesn’t know if that fury will be directed at her son or at the parents of the other child involved, but she is unquestionably angry. 

The secretary meekly points her in the direction of the principal’s office, and Allura sweeps inside. Mrs. Holt, the principal and one of the reasons Allura selected this school for Lance to attend, sits up just a little straighter. On one of the small couches, the other boy—a sullen, dark haired little thing—sits curled up against his father’s side. The man has a scar over his nose and an odd tuft of white hair that falls over his eyes, and Allura would probably stop to take a second look at him if her own son wasn’t sitting in a chair with a bloody wash rag shoved up under his nose. 

Lance gets one look at her and bursts into tears. Allura jumps forward and scoops him into her arms. “What happened,” she demands, her blazing eyes darting between the other boy’s father and Mrs. Holt. Even if it was Lance who started this, he is the one bleeding, and someone will be answering for this.  

“Miss Altea,” Mrs. Holt begins, “this is Takashi Shirogane and his son, Keith. Today is their first day here, and the boys have managed to get into a physical altercation on the playground. We haven’t entirely been able to get the full story out of them yet—“

“It’s his fault, Mom,” Lance cries. 

“No, it was yours,” Keith snaps, leaning forward. 

His father pulls him back and admonishes, “Keith!”

“It was,” Keith insists. “You wouldn’t leave me alone.” 

“I was trying to play with you,” Lance hollers. “I was trying to be nice because you’re new.” 

“I didn’t want you to,” Keith grumbles, burrowing himself back against his father’s side. 

“Well, fine, I won’t try again,” Lance says. “I hope you don’t make any friends.”

“Lance,” Allura cries, and her son’s shoulders hunch up around his ears. He glares at Keith over the wash rag. “I want a straight answer right now, young man. Who hit first?” 

“He did,” Keith says, pointing. “He pushed me.” 

“He called me stupid,” Lance says lowly, and a good deal of the fight drains out of Allura. 

She sighs and takes his chin in her hand. Carefully, she pulls the towel away to get a look at his nose. It’s still bleeding just a bit. She puts the towel back and gently pushes so that Lance is looking up towards the ceiling. Allura exchanges a glance with Mrs. Holt, who has a look of understanding and nods, and then says, “You need to get cleaned up, bug. Go ask the nurse for some help and get an ice pack. I’m going to talk to Keith’s dad and then come get you, all right?” 

Her son’s eyes are filling up with tears again, but he blinks them away and lets her kiss his forehead before hurrying out of the office. 

Allura takes the seat Lance had been sitting in and folds her hands over her lap as she faces the Shiroganes. “Your son couldn’t have known this, so I won’t place any blame on him—and I will also be having a very long discussion with my son about appropriate emotional reactions—but Lance has ADHD. I’m sure you know how kids can be sometimes, Mr. Shirogane, and normally Lance brushes off anything, but being called stupid is the one thing that really gets to him.” 

“Of course,” he says. “I’m so sorry about this. Obviously, we’ll be having a talk too about—“

Keith interrupts. “What’s ADHD?” 

Shirogane makes a face. He doesn't have an easy definition off the top of his head to give to a seven-year-old. “It’s a condition where—um—“

“Is he sick,” Keith asks. 

“No, not really,” Allura explains. “He does take medicine for it, but it’s just something where his brain works a little differently from most people’s.”

Keith looks up with big eyes at his father. “I think you know a little something about that,” Shirogane says. 

“I didn’t know he was—“ Keith starts to protest frantically. "I didn't—“

"It's all right," Allura says gently. "You didn't know then. That's not your fault."

Keith drops his gaze and shrinks right back into his father's side. "You think you're up for apologizing to Lance today," Shirogane asks. "Or do you need to wait until tomorrow?" Keith buries his face in Shirogane's shirt, who looks up at Allura with a shrug. "Is that all right?"

"Of course," Allura says. "Lance will be apologizing tomorrow as well."

Shirogane smiles gratefully and turns to Mrs. Holt. "So, what else, Colleen?"

Mrs. Holt brushes a slip of hair behind her ear. "I'm willing to let this one go," she says. "It was—there were obviously some misunderstandings, and I think after you talk to them, both boys will remember to show each other better courtesy. However, they did get physical, so I am going to have to take some kind of action. I think maybe just a little extra time helping their teachers with some classroom chores."

"That's more than fair," Shirogane says.

Mrs. Holt nods. "Well, you're both already here, missing work. If you want to sign them out for the rest of the day, that's fine."

"Yeah, thanks, Colleen," Shirogane says, standing up with Keith propped on his hip. "Sam still grilling Saturday?"

"Yes, and the kids expect you both to be there, Takashi," she answers.

"Matt's not really a kid," Shirogane says with a laugh and shuffle towards the door.

"He is until he finishes up that PhD and gets out of my guest room," she says, waving. "We'll see you Saturday."

He nods. "Yeah. And again, Miss Altea, sorry about all this." He holds out a hand for her to shake.

"It's fine. Same to you," she says, and they leave. Allura looks back at Mrs. Holt, who motions again to the chair. Allura sits.

"Family friend," Mrs. Holt says. "He and my son have been friends for some years. He's been Keith's foster father for almost a year now, and they're going through the adoption process. I can guarantee you he'll do his best to explain to Keith what went wrong today. If there's anything in particular you think Takashi should say to Keith, just let me know, and I'll pass it along. Keith is a sweet boy, but he is going to need this explained as clearly as possible for him to really understand, and Takashi doesn't have your knowledge."

"Of course," Allura says. "I can type something up and have it emailed to you later in the afternoon. And I think Lance would benefit from the same treatment to avoid anything like this happening again."

Mrs. Holt nods. "I'll talk to him."

When Allura leaves the office, Lance is sitting on a chair, swinging his legs. He has a fresh wad of tissues for his nose and an ice pack. Allura drops down in front of him to re-tie his loose shoelaces. "Mom, is my nose broken," he asks.

"Let's see," she says. He lowers the tissues and ice pack, and Allura runs a finger lightly down his nose. It's as straight as it was this morning. "Hm, probably not, but we'll have Gramp take a look. Now, come along, let's go get your backpack."

"Oh, cool, I get to go home early?"

"Yes, but it's not a good thing, Lance," she says.

They collect Lance's backpack and homework from his teacher, and Lance and Hunk regard each other with kicked puppy expressions across the room the entire time. In the car, the ice pack has mostly melted, but Lance leaves it over his face. He keeps readjusting the position but otherwise is unusually still and quiet.

Finally just as they're about to enter the neighborhood, he asks, "Am I in a lot of trouble?"

"Not a lot," Allura answers. "But a little bit."

"I really was just trying to be nice, Mom," he says.

Allura sighs and moves one hand from the steering wheel to slip into his hair. "I know you were, bug," she says, and Lance sniffles uncomfortably.

``

Keith spends the car ride back to the library curled up with his face pressed against his knees. He unfurls only for the time it takes to walk from the car and into Shiro’s office, where he resumes the same position on a spare chair Shiro wheels over. 

“A lot happened today,” Shiro says, dropping one hand lightly on the little boy’s shoulder. “We are going to have to talk about it, but it can wait until after we get home, ok?” Keith nods once, and Shiro goes back to work. 

It’s hard to concentrate knowing Keith is sitting right there and completely overwhelmed, but Shiro has had some time to figure Keith out. When he gets like this, he needs to come out of it on his own. He says he feels better about it that way. It doesn’t change the fact that Shiro wants to wrap him up in a tight hug and just wish all the bad things away, but he knows all too well that life doesn’t work like that. 

He gets an email from Colleen just about a half hour before it’s time to go home. It’s forwarded from Allura Altea with a pretty detailed set of notes on how best to explain ADHD to Keith and also requests the same from Shiro regarding Keith so that they can hopefully avoid the boys getting into any conflicts like this again. 

Shiro gnaws on his bottom lip as he stares at the screen. Thing is, Keith doesn’t have an official diagnosis. Until the adoption is totally finalized, Shiro can’t really take him to the appropriate specialists without a lot of other people staring over his shoulder. And as much as Shiro thinks it’s necessary, those people don’t. They have too many other kids to worry about, too many other problems, and this is so much of a back burner issue for them that it's not even on the stove. 

The Holts have been a huge help. Sam pulled a favor and got a clinical psychiatrist buddy of his to observe Keith off the record, and her suspicion is autism. She directed Shiro to some sources to research, but that’s about all that can be done for now. He just has to wing it. 

He just has to wing too many things. 

Shiro prints out the information from Miss Altea and brings Keith back to the car. It’s been a few hours now, so Keith has unfurled a little bit. His shoulders and back are still hunched, and his eyes are locked onto his hands folded in his lap. 

Keith isn’t up for talking until after his bath. He sits at the kitchen table and silently and slowly does all his homework. He just points at various items in the pantry when Shiro asks if there’s anything in particular he wants for dinner. It’s very far from ideal, but it gives Shiro plenty of time to read and reread the email to make sure he knows what all to say to Keith later. 

Teeth brushed and pajamas on, Shiro sits down on Keith’s bed. “Ok, time for our talk,” he says. Keith nods and shoves his feet into his slippers before crawling under the sheets. “I know it was a rough day, buddy,” Shiro says. “New school, new place, new people, it’s hard. And you do know, even without Lance not liking to be called stupid, you know he was just trying to be friends, right?”

Keith nods, his face twisting in a frown. “He was too big.” 

“Some people are,” Shiro says. “Some people are loud and move a lot. But you know that about him now. And his mom is going to tell him that you like to be small.”

“Is he big because of his medicine?” 

“I think his medicine helps him try to not be so big all the time,” Shiro answers. 

“Well, it isn’t working,” Keith says. Shiro gives him a look, and Keith stops to think. “Oh, was that a mean truth?” 

“Yes, it was,” Shiro says. It’s another thing to work on. In Keith’s mind, that was just a fact, and he sometimes has difficulty understanding that what he simply thinks is a fact comes across to other people as just plain mean. Their method for now is separating mean facts from nice ones. 

"But we know now," Shiro says, ruffling Keith's hair. "And Lance is going to try, and you're going to try. That's all we can do, just try our best."

``

Allura has always been an early bird. She loves getting up and seeing the sun rise. Her son, on the other hand, would sleep until noon every single day if he had the opportunity. She guesses that by the time he’s a teenager, she won’t see his face until at least three in the afternoon on weekends. Allura counts herself lucky in this sense. Even as a baby Lance preferred sleeping in, and she would hear horror stories from other parents about 5:00 AM wake up calls every single day without fail, often followed by too short naps and an intense aversion against going to bed. 

Allura very much understands that last one. 

But the quiet of the morning is always nice. It lets her make sure all the clothes are folded and put away, all the dishes are cleaned, that Lance’s homework is completed, and that they both have everything they will need for the day. It lets her catch up on news and pre-work emails. 

Lance’s alarm clock is loud enough that Allura can hear it playing from upstairs. She pauses her assembly of Lance’s lunch and waits to see if it goes silent in an appropriate amount of time. It’s probably no more than fifteen seconds before silence resumes, and Allura continues on. 

Then a few minutes later, she hears an almost half-expected cry of, “Mom!” followed by thundering footsteps. Lance comes skidding into the kitchen and nearly collides with her legs. “Mom, look,” he says, pointing at his face. His right eye is ringed in a purple bruise. “Isn’t it cool?” 

Allura drops down and takes his face in her hands. “You know, mothers don’t really think bruises on their children are cool,” she says. 

“Boring,” he sing-songs. 

She feels along his nose again, and he only squirms a little bit, so she remains convinced it’s not broken and doesn’t need any further looking at. Lance continues on about how cool his bruise makes him look. “It’s ok that you don’t get it, Mom; not all girls would,” he says, mouth half full of cereal. Allura just smiles. She thinks he might be very interested to see her old rugby pictures, but that is an overly-enthusiastic can of worms she has no intention of opening. It’s difficult enough keeping up with all the sports he already plays.

“Do you want me to cover it up,” she asks later as she’s applying her makeup, Lance sitting on the other stool and watching. He considers for a moment before deciding that she can do it tomorrow, because today he wants to show it to Hunk. 

They go through the usual morning checklist. Does Lance have all his homework in his backpack? His binders and pencil box? Where is his lunchbox? Does he need a jacket? Then they get into the car, and Lance asks to pick the music. Predictably, he chooses Beyoncé, and they listen to _Single Ladies_ nearly three times before pulling into the school parking lot.

Allura walks up to the classroom door with Lance’s hand tucked in her own. “Why are you coming with me,” he asks. 

“I’d like to make sure you apologize to Keith,” she says.

“I’m not going to forget,” he insists. 

He wouldn’t mean to but very well might if he gets his eyes on Hunk before Keith, and Allura would just like to make sure. Luckily they see the Shiroganes first. “Mr. Shirogane,” she calls. 

He turns and waves. Keith shuffles a little closer to him. “Good morning,” he says with a warm smile. “And—um—no need to be so formal.” 

Allura smiles back. “Takashi then,” she says, and he laughs. It’s a very pleasant sound. Actually, with their children not in the principal’s office, one bleeding and both angry, she can take a moment to process that this man is very handsome. 

“Shiro, actually,” he says. “Literally of the more than seven billion people on this planet, only my moms and the Holts still call me Takashi.”

She can feel an absolutely unnecessary giggle trying to surface, and she pushes it down. “All right then,” she says, keeping a pleasant smile in place. “Better day?” 

“Hopefully,” Shiro says, dropping a hand on Keith’s head. 

Allura looks down at Lance, whose attention has completely wandered as he looks around at the carpool line. She squeezes his hand, and he whips around to face her. She inclines her head, and he remembers what he’s supposed to do. “Hi, Keith,” he says, leaning forward but not too far out of his mother’s grasp. “Sorry I wouldn’t leave you alone yesterday. And that I pushed you. I wasn’t trying to be mean.”  

Keith slips almost entirely behind Shiro’s leg, his hand clinging to the fabric of his pants. He stares at Lance with big eyes. “Keith,” Shiro prompts, but he just seems to burrow in closer. 

“Um, hello, Earth to Keith,” Lance says, and Allura pulls him back. 

“Is he all right,” she asks.

Shiro leans down a little to try to get a better look at his son. “Hey, buddy,” he says gently. “Are you upset?” Keith nods. “Too big,” Shiro asks. Keith shakes his head. “Is it Lance or something else?” Keith inclines his head once towards Lance, who looks up at his mother confused and a little offended. She shushes him patiently. 

“OK, something about Lance. Can you give us a clue,” Shiro asks. Keith takes a few deep breaths and uncurls his hand from Shiro’s pants. He drops a finger under his eye, and the poor thing looks like he’s about to cry. 

Lance is the first of them to move. He still doesn’t take his hand out of Allura’s, but he steps closer. “No, it’s totally cool,” he says. “It doesn’t hurt at all unless I poke it.” Which he proceeds to do and hisses in slight pain. 

Keith looks alarmed. 

“My mom’s going to paint over it tomorrow so you won’t even be able to see it. I just wanted it out today to show Hunk. Oh, hey, there he is. Hunk! Hunk, come here! Come look at my eye!” Lance jumps and waves his free hand. Hunk is standing down the sidewalk, and he waves just a bit but doesn’t come any closer. He shuffles his feet and shoots a nervous glance in Keith’s direction.

“Mom, can I go talk to Hunk now,” Lance asks, tugging at her arm. “I said sorry.” 

“Yes, you can,” she says. 

“Yes! Do you want to come too,” he asks Keith. 

Keith looks over his shoulder, right at Hunk, who hunches up his shoulders. “Is he scared of me,” Keith asks lowly. 

“Yeah,” Lance says breezily. “But Hunk is scared of everything at first. You wanna come?” Keith shakes his head. “OK, later,” Lance says and runs off. He collides with Hunk, whose expression is much brighter now that his full attention is on his best friend. Lance points at his eye, and Allura can’t decipher anything they say as they excitedly yell over each other. Hardly a second later, they’re gone. 

Allura sighs, hoisting up Lance’s backpack. “Always a blur,” she says. 

“Tell me about it,” Shiro says. He walks with her into the classroom, talking to his son while Allura deposits Lance’s bag into his cubby. There are some loose papers inside, crumbled up and pushed to the back. She pulls them out and hopes there isn’t anything important lost in them, but none of his teachers have sent her any emails in a few weeks. 

Shiro is waiting by the door for her. “Do you mind if I walk out with you,” he asks with a sweet smile, and Allura thinks he is very cute. They fall into step together, and he says, “I’m sorry Keith didn’t manage an actual apology. He was—“

“He was upset,” Allura says with a wave of her hand. “And I doubt Lance will ever even notice. Honestly, it’s all right.”

“Well, I just wanted you to know,” Shiro says. “He really is sorry. He asked to keep that email you sent Colleen so he could read it himself. It’s just—we’re still working on a lot of things.” 

“I understand,” Allura says. “When we got Lance diagnosed, I dove into the research, got my hands on everything I could regarding alternative learning methods, how to deal with his moods and medications, but there’s always a learning period, trial and error. And it can go on for a long time.”

“When did he—if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Last year, a bit before Christmas,” Allura answers. 

“Wow,” Shiro says, his brows arching. “From your email, it really seems like you have it all figured out.” 

“I am very thorough,” she says simply. Then, as she steps up to her car, she offers, “I know we’re dealing with two different conditions, but if you have any questions or just want to talk, you have my email. Feel free at any time.” 

Something like relief washes over his face. “Thanks, Allura. Thanks. I will.” 

She hopes he does.

``

Keith is practically squirming out of the car before Shiro even properly has it in park. There aren’t a lot of places that Keith feels totally comfortable, but the Holts’ house is one of them. They let themselves in, and Keith runs ahead, skidding to a stop in the kitchen where Sam and Colleen are both elbows deep in meal prep. “Mrs. Colleen, where’s Pidge,” Keith asks. 

Shiro has had Keith for just about a year now, and to this day they don’t know why he calls the Holts’ daughter Pidge. Her name is Katie, so there is no discernible connection they can pick out. But Keith adores the little toddler, even if she is getting to the age where everything is wild and loud screams that usually send Keith running in the opposite direction.

“Just finishing up a nap,” Colleen says. “Matt’s gone up to get her.”

Keith pouts, because Pidge is the embodiment of Not A Morning Person. Shiro already feels sorry for her parents when she hits the teenage years. Getting up from a nap is going to mean at least fifteen minutes of quiet time to adjust her back into the waking world. 

“But on the bright side,” Sam says, lifting up a tray of assorted vegetables and kebobs, "these need to get onto the grill, and you are just the man with the expertise to help me.” Keith grins and follows Sam outside dutifully. 

It’s ten minutes before Matt comes downstairs with Pidge tucked up under his chin. He has her mostly dressed, just missing her shoes. He obviously hasn’t bothered trying to do anything to her massive bedhead yet. “There’s my little monkey,” Colleen says, trying to sneak in for a kiss. Pidge grunts in protest and actually shoves her mother’s face away. 

“Wow, harsh,” Matt says, grinning. He turns to Shiro. “Hey, man, heard you had a busy week.” 

“We got it worked out,” Shiro says. “Hopefully.” 

They chat lightly for a few more minutes while Pidge tries to wake up. Shiro laughs a bit at her crowded expression, and she actually turns an offended glare up at him. Sam and Keith come back inside, and that is the first sign of Pidge being in a better mood. Her eyes lock onto Keith, who just looks back at her patiently until she pushes at Matt’s shoulders to signal that she wants down. She marches up to Keith, grabs his jacket, and pulls. “My Keith, come see,” she demands and drags him off to her toy bin. 

Shiro arches a brow. “Oh, yeah, that’s new,” Matt says. “Everything is hers now. Her mommy. Her Matt. Her car. Her Netflix. Her dissertation research so painstakingly organized and neatly stacked.” His expression turns pained and haunted.

"That's rough, buddy," Shiro says, and Matt flips him off. Colleen catches him, and despite their whining that they are grown men, she pulls their ears and orders them to help her in the kitchen.

An hour later, their bellies are all full, and Keith and Pidge are in the sandbox. Pidge dumps an entire bucket onto her head, and the Holts all scramble to call Not It for monitoring her bath time. Sam loses and curses wildly. Shiro pats his shoulder in sympathy. He's seen the circus that is trying to get Pidge in, through, and out of the tub.

They chat lightly, and the subject comes around to updates on the adoption. Shiro's stomach rolls nervously. He's been a ball of anxiety ever since he made the decision that he wants to keep Keith forever. He loves that kid with all his heart, and he doesn't know what he'll do if this doesn't work out.

“You’re going to be fine, Takashi,” Colleen says. “You know we’ll give you glowing reviews, and even if the fight does come up, I can attest that neither of the boys acted unprovoked and that everything was a misunderstanding that worked out almost seamlessly.” 

Shiro runs a hand over the back of his neck. “Thanks,” he says. “I know—I guess I know you and my parents are here and supportive, but I just—I can’t help thinking I don’t look good enough on paper for them. I mean, I’m single and work full time, and we haven’t really found any team activities that Keith is comfortable enrolling in, so what am I offering?” 

“A stable and loving home, you idiot,” Matt says, kicking the leg of Shiro’s chair. 

Sam reaches over and flicks Matt’s ear. “His sentiment is right,” he says. “It’s fine to be nervous. Of course you are. You love that boy, and the final decision about whether or not you get to keep him isn’t entirely yours. Anyone would be nervous. But you can’t just focus in on that. You can’t just worry about what ifs and the negatives. You are good for Keith, and he’s good for you. Maybe you have to work hard to prove that to someone, but you’re up to the challenge.”

Shiro smiles gratefully at him, and Colleen says, “You know, if one of your concerns is a lack of participation, you could consider joining the PTA, maybe volunteering for some homeroom responsibilities. You already have Allura Altea’s email. Message her. She is always very involved.” 

Shiro feels a little flutter in his stomach at the mention of Allura, and he is so, so glad that he doesn’t blush easily, because Matt would have a field day with that. Instead he just answers back calmly, “Yeah, that’s a good idea.” 

It is a good idea. It helps with proving he’s an involved parent, and it lets him have another chance to talk to Allura that doesn’t involve their sons in the principal’s office. He’s been thinking about emailing her all week. She offered, and she sounded sincere, but that worrying part of Shiro doesn’t want to make it seem like he doesn’t know what he’s doing or is incapable.  

``

 **From:**  Takashi Shirogane <t.shiro@garrisonlibrary.org>

 **To:**  Allura Altea <Allura.Altea@VoltronIndustries.com>

 **Subject:**  PTA

Allura,

Hi, I was just dropping you a line regarding signing up for the PTA. Colleen mentioned you were involved, and otherwise I’m not sure who else to contact. Whenever you have some time, if you could let me know what all I’d need to do, that would be great. Thanks.

\--

Best regards,

Takashi Shirogane

``

It’s kind of ridiculous how much Shiro agonizes over that short email. He spends the better part of his lunch hour staring at the screen, writing and re-writing each sentence and letting his microwaved leftovers go cold again. He wonders if it’s too impersonal. He’s definitely sincere in his desire to be a more involved parent with Keith, but he does also want to get to know this woman. 

It would be easier if he could just ask her out for coffee or something, but that seems too forward. He knows she’s single too. Or at least single to the point of not married. Anything other than that is a mystery. She might be dating someone. She might not be interested in men or dating in general. She might be on the same train he’s been on for so long, turning down any prospects because he has Keith and Keith comes first. He had other excuses before that, but Keith is a much more solid and important one.

Shiro doesn’t really know what it is about Allura Altea that makes him even think about this. Of course she’s gorgeous. He can’t think of another woman he’s ever met like her. And the way she had come into Colleen’s office last week, radiating all the fury of a vengeful goddess. There had been a solid few seconds that Shiro had almost forgotten what they were all in there for. 

And how understanding she turned out to be. Shiro still can’t believe it. She had just turned on a dime when they had figured out what had actually set the boys off, and that she wasn’t only concerned with how Keith had affected Lance but how Lance had affected Keith as well, that one Shiro is still floored by. Outside of his parents and the Holts, not too many people have been willing to give Keith any more consideration than to just think he’s weird. 

It's infuriating and heartbreaking watching Keith struggle with it, and Shiro feels half useless because his resources are so limited. But Allura's understanding and kindness, it's not a fix or anything, but it's like a breath of fresh air. It's nice to see someone who doesn't have any reason to care extend that towards them. It could have been very easy for her to just focus on her own son and not give them any consideration. But she didn't. She cared, and that's something.

``

 **From:**  Allura Altea <Allura.Altea@VoltronIndustries.com>

 **To:**  Takashi Shirogane <t.shiro@garrisonlibrary.org>

 **Subject:**  Re:PTA

Shiro,

Of course, we can always use the extra hands. There won’t be another official meeting until the middle of October, but if you want to get a jumpstart, maybe you and Keith would like to join Lance and me for a late lunch at JK’s BBQ tomorrow. I apologize for how last minute this is, but it’s a weekly tradition we have after Lance’s soccer games. There is a large play place outside for the kids to run around, and luckily it's in between the lunch and dinner rush hours, so it won't be crowded. Let me know, and I’ll bring along all the materials you’ll need. 

\--

Allura Altea

President and CEO

Voltron Industries, Inc. 

``

When they arrive at JK’s, Lance is off like a rocket for the play place. He runs right past Shiro and Keith, waiting for them by the entrance. Keith stares after him with a sort of shocked expression, and as Shiro looks back at her, Allura readjusts his bag and her purse and huffs, “And that’s fresh out of soccer.” 

“So I take it you’re horribly addicted to caffeine,” Shiro says, offering out a hand to take something from her, but she waves him off. 

“It got to a point once when Lance was about four or five that I was going through more than two quads a day. I had the resting heart rate of a humming bird.” She waves at a passing waiter who calls that he’ll be right over for their drink orders, and they settle in at a table with a good view of the monkey bars Lance is currently hanging upside down from. 

“Hello, Keith,” Allura says. “How are you doing?” 

“Fine,” he says. His eyes slide around her to glance at Lance when he lets out a whoop. Allura looks back to see him now hanging just from his knees. 

“Do you like barbeque?”

He shrugs. “Never had it.” 

"Well, this is probably the best I've ever had, so I'm sure we can find something here you'll like," Allura promises. The waiter comes by with four tall glasses of water and two menus. "They have good margaritas here, if that's something you're into," she tells Shiro. "Be careful about the house one, though. The mix has habaneros in it, and some people aren't about that. I, however, am."

"With a Corona in it," the waiter confirms, and Allura smiles at him.

Shiro skims the back of the menu and says, "Um, dealer's choice from something on tap, as long as it isn't made from apples. Keith, do you want a lemonade?"

"Can it have cherry?"

"Sure thing, little man," the waiter says. "Sweet tea for your guy, Allura?"

"Please, and also some potato skins for now," Allura says. Then after he leaves, she twists in her seat and calls, "Lance, come here."

He slides down the bars and nearly collides with the table. "What? Food's not here."

"Sit down for a second and take your shin guards off like I told you to do in the car. Also, it's time for your medicine." She fishes out the bottle from her purse while he pulls off the guards and stuffs them in his bag. He takes the pill with a big gulp of water and asks, "Can I go back now?" She nods, and Lance turns to Keith. "Don't you want to play too? It's boring over here."

"Maybe," Keith says.

"Come on," Lance urges. "I'm going to swing. I bet I can swing higher than you."

Keith looks affronted. "No, you can't," he shoots back.

"Yeah huh."

"Nuh uh."

"Yeah huh, and I bet I can jump off further," Lance challenges.

"I can jump way better than you," Keith says.

"Prove it," Lance sneers, and they both race off.

Shiro blinks after them completely surprised. "I—what just—?”

Allura arches a brow. "That was interesting."

"Should we be concerned? About that and the flying out of swings in general," Shiro asks, but he's beaming at the boys pushing off on the swings.

"I doubt they'll actually hurt themselves," she says with a wave of her hand. The drinks arrive, and she takes a large gulp. "Just keep half an eye on them, and if they start getting out of line, we pull them back. But anyway, how have you both been adjusting?"

"Better," Shiro says. "I think Colleen made the situation a little more clear to the teacher. And he hasn't mentioned any other big troubles so far."

"That's good," she says. "New place can be overwhelming."

"Yeah, tell me about it."

Allura tilts her head. "Recent personal experience?"

"Just started a new job a few weeks ago." He smiles sheepishly—a good look on him, Allura thinks—and says, "I'm a history buff, so librarian seemed like a good career path. But you own a company, so that's probably boring to you."

"If you like it, then it's not boring," Allura says. "Were you required to get a teaching certificate along with your degree?"

"Um, yeah," he says, brows furrowed, and Allura smiles.

"That's good. You can pull that out at meetings and shut up all those annoying soccer moms—yes, I know, there is a soccer bag next to me; don't point that out—who think they know everything because they read the latest celebrity doctor's blog spot. Doesn't matter if you don't actually know the difference. Just point out that you're the one with the educational degree and from then on, confidence is key."

"Just confidence, huh?"

Allura shrugs. "Or insinuating that you're willing to fight them physically." Shiro bursts out laughing, deep from his belly, and it's a very lovely sound.

His prosthetic hand hits the table with a dull thud. "Oh man," he says, his eyes watering a bit in mirth. "Please, don't take this the creepy way, but I would pay to see that fight. I'm guessing those soccer moms you're talking about are also the I Want To Talk To Your Manager types, and I've worked enough crappy retail and barista jobs to still be bitter about them."

"Well prepare to build on that," Allura says, pulling some papers from her purse. They go over some of the basics and things he can do to be more actively involved. He even starts spitting out ideas of his own, and Allura is impressed. The ideas are good and more educational than she usually hears. Not that crafts and snacks and parties don't have their place, but Shiro seems like he can really bring something new to the table.

The waiter comes back around to check on their progress, and Shiro looks out at Lance and Keith running up and down the slides. "I almost hate to go over there and ask him what he wants when they're getting along like that," he says. "But he's a picky eater."

Keith sits down at the top of the slide, and Shiro hands him up the menu. Keith reads over it, and his brows furrow. "I don't know what any of this is."

"Pulled sandwich, bug," Allura asks, and Lance drops to hang from his knees on the bars.

"Yes! Which one did I have last week?"

"Chicken," she answers.

"OK, I want pork this time," Lance requests, and he laughs when she stoops to kiss his chin.

"Is that good," Keith asks.

"Super good," Lance says, waving his arms. "It's the best thing here."

Allura nods. "It is excellent. If you'd like to try it, Keith, you could split one with Lance. It's too big for him to eat alone."

"Yeah, I could," Lance protests.

"Well, you aren't going to," she says.

Keith looks down at Shiro. "You can have whatever you want, buddy," Shiro says.

"OK, I'll try it." He looks at where it's listed on the menu. "Can we have macaroni and cheese too?"

"Yes," Lance cries excitedly. Allura reaches out to steady him before he can slip off.

When the order comes out, they split up the food and call the boys back to the table. "Shiro, did you see? I totally beat Lance in that race to the tree," Keith says, climbing up into his seat.

"Yeah, well, I beat you jumping off the swings, just like I said I would," Lance proclaims.

"You rolled forward," Keith cries. "That doesn't count."

"Says the loser!" Lance sticks out his tongue, and Allura grabs at it. "Ow, sorry, Mom." She slides him his plate, and he grabs at the sauce container to slather it all over the pulled pork.

Keith stares. "That's really messy."

"But it's the best way to eat it," Lance says. "If you don't put on sauce, what's even the point?"

"Some people like it like that, Lance," Allura says, adjusting her own sandwich.

"Yeah, well, they're wrong," he says and takes a huge bite.

Keith makes a face, but he applies an experimental helping of the sauce to his sandwich. He takes a tentative bite, and then his eyes light up. He grabs at the container again and pours a huge glob. The next bite is more ravenous. Shiro laughs. "So, you like it, buddy?" Keith nods enthusiastically.

"Told you," Lance says.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Allura scolds. 

“So looks like barbeque is definitely going to have to be put into our rotation,” Shiro says later as they make their way out to the parking lot. “Thanks for asking us. I honestly can’t believe how active Keith has been today.” They look over to where the boys are now competing about who can balance the best along the curb of the sidewalk. 

“We both have stubborn and competitive boys, but if they get along through it, I don’t see a problem,” Allura says. “Competition is good for Lance. It makes him focus in.” 

They go their separate ways, Shiro with all the PTA information and cell numbers exchanged, and on the ride home, Lance almost doesn’t stop to take a breath in giving Allura a play by play of everything he and Keith had done and all the ways Lance is certain he’s better than Keith, but to be fair, that Keith at least isn’t as boring as he had originally thought, and that he won’t mind playing with him again at school, this time with Hunk. 

At about 4:00, Allura goes into the living room to check on Lance—she hasn’t heard anything but the television playing for a while, and that’s usually a suspicious sign—and finds him slumped over the arm of the couch, completely dead to the world. 

Allura debates with herself for a moment before pulling out her phone and sending a text to Shiro.

> [Allura]: we’re going to have to schedule more playdates. Lance is actually taking a nap for the first time since he was 4. Your child is a miracle worker. 

Something in her stomach feels fluttery when Shiro responds first with a string of laughing emoji and then a picture of Keith curled into a ball, also passed out, on their own couch. 


	2. Chapter 2

Over the next couple of weeks, Shiro hears a lot from Keith about how nice Lance’s friend Hunk is but how annoying Lance himself is. Shiro notices that too many of these stories start with something like “So I went to ask Lance to borrow his blue marker” for him to actually believe that Keith wants nothing to do with Lance. 

Shiro is pretty much over the moon about it. In the year that he’s had Keith, the kid has only really formed a connection to Shiro himself and the Holts. He likes Shiro’s moms, but they live on the other side of the country, so there isn’t too much in-person interaction there. But this new rivalry with Lance has for some reason sparked something in Keith, and he’s finally making friends. His teacher stops Shiro one afternoon in the carpool line to mention her pleasant surprise that Keith has even been opening up more in the classroom. 

The afternoon of his first PTA meeting rolls around, and Shiro convinces Matt to leave the stacks and go pick up and watch Keith until he gets home. It’s sort of nice to not have to scramble over to the school like usual on weekdays. His bosses are accommodating of the fact that he’s a single parent and have never given any indication that they’re annoyed by him bringing Keith around rather than putting him in an after school program, but he sometimes worries that he might be pushing his luck or taking advantage. So an afternoon of no interrupted work probably looks good to them. 

The meeting starts at 5:30, and Shiro picks up an itinerary flyer before he spots Allura up near the front of the room. She has a large binder in her hands and a group of other parents around her. Shiro approaches and waves, and she says, “Shiro, yes, good. Here, take these.” She fishes out a packet from the binder and hands it off. “For after general business, when we get down to the homerooms.” 

“This is just homeroom stuff,” Shiro asks, leafing through the packets. 

“You’ll find Miss Altea is ready for just about every scenario,” one of the mothers laughs. “She runs a tight ship.”

As the meeting starts, Allura pulls Shiro to sit by her. She has a tablet, fingers flying over the screen as she furiously types notes. The biggest discussion point is the Halloween Carnival coming up in a couple of weeks. Allura taps at the packet and mutters to him, “Second grade handles the confetti eggs and scarecrows for the hay maze.” 

“We usually just do a normal scarecrow, a mummy maybe, some vampires,” the teacher mentions later, after the groups split up. 

“Do the kids not get to pick,” Shiro asks. 

She shrugs. “They pick which one they work on, but there’s just an old bin of costumes we recycle.” 

Allura asks, “How would you change that, Shiro?” 

It’s a little uncomfortable all the eyes on him, because it’s not like there’s anything wrong with whatever they’ve been doing, but it just sounds less fun. “I guess, you could give them a vote, maybe. Like type up a little ballot with some general ideas but leave them a space to make up something if they want to be more creative.” 

Allura nods. “All right, if you’ll print those out for the kids tomorrow? There’s some orange paper in the supply bin and some stickers too, I’m sure. Mrs. Baden, when were you wanting to stuff the eggs?” 

“The Tuesday before the carnival, I think, during the last two periods. We’ll have cookies, and any parents who want to come help are welcome,” she answers. “Also, costume day will be the day of Halloween. Like we discussed before, Allura, pizza and punch."

“Good,” Allura says, hefting up a box. “Here are the pumpkin name tags. All the shapes are cut out; the kids just need to glue and glitter however they like. Please, keep an eye on Lance when he gets the glitter. If you leave him unsupervised he’ll cover the whole thing plus Hunk’s.”

Mrs. Baden laughs. “I heard the horror stories about last year’s ornament making day.”

Allura makes a face. “I think I was washing glitter from his hair well into the new year.” The other parents all groan with an exasperated sort of agreement. “How’s the bake sale looking?” 

“Too many brownies and cookies,” one dad says. “Someone needs to come up with a new idea.”

“I’ll check my Pinterest board and shoot out a slightly passive-aggressive email,” a mom offers. Allura shoots her a finger gun. 

“Other than that, for now we just need more ticket booth volunteers,” Allura says. 

“So this carnival is a big deal,” Shiro asks, after the meeting is over and he’s walking Allura to her car. 

“Huge,” Allura says. “I would go ahead and start talking to Keith about it now. There’s going to be a lot going on, and he might get overstimulated. But how did you like your first meeting?” 

“There was less arguing than you promised me,” Shiro complains, and she laughs.

“Until the holidays are over, there is mostly a common goal. Christmas will be a bit more self-righteous, so you can look forward to that,” she assures him. She drops her binder and purse into the back seat. “Do you and Keith have any Halloween plans?” 

“Um, I don’t know,” Shiro says. “I’d only just gotten him last year, and he hasn’t really mentioned wanting to do anything so far.” 

“Well, there’s a good neighborhood next to mine that closes off all the streets so no cars can drive down. I always take Lance and Hunk, and you’re more than welcome to join in,” she offers. 

“I’ll talk to him about it,” Shiro says, his heart picking up speed in his chest. It shouldn’t. He needs to calm down, but this is now two things she’s invited him out for, and that has to mean something, right? 

``

> [Shiro]: So apparently we’re all going to be Star Wars for Halloween?
> 
> [Allura]: help me obi juan whoever the fuck you are you’re my only ho
> 
> [Allura]: I take it that means Keith wants to come with us
> 
> [Shiro]: he hasn’t stopped talking about it. Apparently there was almost a fight about who gets to be Poe but once Hunk said Keith could have a lightsaber if he was Rey, that sold him. That kid loves himself a toy sword
> 
> [Shiro]: and we have to dress up too?
> 
> [Allura]: I’m debating between hoth leia or cloud city leia
> 
> [Shiro]: I have a leather jacket that could make me old man Han Solo. I can do powder in my hair to try to make the rest of it white
> 
> [Allura]: think you can be old man grouchy enough?
> 
> [Shiro]: hey you kids get off my millennium falcon
> 
> [Shiro]: [old man yells at sky edited so that Grandpa Simpson looks like Han Solo.jpg] 
> 
> [Allura]: there is no way you had that on hand
> 
> [Shiro]: admittedly photoshop was already open on my computer

``

“Keith wants your sister to come, mostly to show her off, I think,” Shiro says. “Did your parents already have plans set up?” 

“Just laps around the neighborhood,” Matt says, leaning back in the chair. “Assuming they can ever agree on a costume for Katie.”

“Can’t they just let her loose in the costume aisle at Target and let her pick?” 

“Knowing Katie, they’d end up with a scary clown goblin princess,” Matt says. Then he pauses and considers it. “Which would be awesome.” 

“Well, check in with them. We’re all going as Star Wars,” Shiro says.

Matt arches a brow. “All,” he asks. “Are you dressing up too, Takashi?” 

“Stop it,” Shiro says. “I’m being Han Solo, and she’s Princess Leia—shut up, man, the kids insisted.”

Matt howls with laughter. “Oh my God, you like her. You so like her. Shiro and Allura sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N—hey, don’t throw things at me!” 

Shiro holds up another pen, ready to let it fly. “For the kids, Matt.”

Matt waves his hands in front of him. “Yeah, for the kids, sure. I believe you.” He rolls his eyes. “So why are you being Han Solo? Shouldn't you be Luke or something?” He mimics both kung fu grip and karate chop action with his right hand. 

“No, the kids like the new movie. Keith is being Rey. Lance is Poe, and his friend Hunk is going to be Finn,” Shiro says. “Also Allura said her uncle is coming along too and threatening to be C-3PO.” 

Matt drops the front legs of his chair back to the floor with wide eyes. He leans over and scrambles for his phone. “Mom,” he says excitedly a few seconds later. “Stop trying to figure out Katie’s costume—what—no, we aren’t doing that. I just had an amazing idea. I’ll take care of it, and we’re going with Shiro and Keith.” 

“God, what are you doing,” Shiro asks when Matt hangs up and claps his hands gleefully. 

“For your consideration,” Matt says dramatically, “picture my tiny, little, chubby sister as BB-8.”

“Holy crap, that’s adorable. Yes. Ok. I approve,” Shiro agrees. Matt starts to grin, and Shiro says forcefully, “But that does not mean I approve of your insinuations about me and Allura.” 

“Is it an insinuation if it’s true?” 

``

When Shiro texts about going to grab lunch one morning, Allura’s stomach does a little flop. It’s not a date, she tells herself. He didn’t ask her out, but this would mark the first time the two of them would go out to do something entirely on their own, no other parents, no kids. She accepts the invitation and tries to leave the office casually. She can feel Coran’s heavy gaze on her back. 

They pick a little bakery not too far from her office. It has decadent pastries, generous sandwiches, and rich coffee. Allura indulges in her sweet tooth and picks out one mixed with gelato and caramel. They bring their drinks out onto the patio. There’s a crisp bite to the air that’s keeping the other patrons indoors, but Allura has a river of thick hair and what she considers the world’s most perfect peacoat—she has never felt too hot or too cold in it no matter the month—to keep her warm. “You’re certainly looking cozy today,” she comments as she brushes a few dried leaves from a seat. “Or is that in general considered librarian chic?” 

Shiro plucks at the hem of his dark grey sweater. “It’s government holiday chic actually,” he says. “The kind of look that says, yeah, I was still in my pajamas when I dropped my kid off at school this morning because no way I wasn’t going to attempt to go back to bed afterwards.” 

Allura laughs. “How fortuitous.”

Shiro runs a hand over his head, which knocks the beanie a bit off. He readjusts it and says, “Yeah, can’t remember the last time I got to sleep in for anything.” 

She asks, "Keith an early riser?"

“Yeah, but he doesn’t really require much in the mornings,” Shiro says. “I just—I was in the military for a while, and old habits, I guess.” 

“Oh,” Allura says, trying very hard not to look at his hand. He doesn’t make efforts to cover it up, but she’s still never asked. 

He smiles gently. “Yes, that’s how I lost my arm,” he says and points at his face. “And got this scar. I was a pilot in the Air Force, got shot down, and was a POW for a while.” 

His eyes go a bit dark, and Allura shouldn’t, but she asks, “How long was a while?”

“About a year,” he answers. “When I got back, I couldn’t fly anymore. They offered to keep me on as an instructor, but I thought it would probably be best to remove myself from the whole thing. The healthy thing to do, you know. I mean, the trauma is still there. I have to live with it, but going back to civilian life was the right choice.” 

Allura has no idea what to say to him in the face of that, and she feels terrible about it. 

Shiro blinks and says, “Wow, so that got heavy kind of fast. Sorry I dumped that on you, and before the food even got here.” 

“No, I—I’m glad you told me, that you trusted me with it,” Allura says. “I wish I knew what to say in return.” 

“Nothing,” Shiro says. “And definitely not ‘I’m sorry.’ That’s—“ He trails off with a shrug. 

“So, how’s the adoption process going,” Allura says, changing the subject with all the subtlety of a freight train. 

Shiro smiles, and his shoulders shake with silent laughter. “It’s going, I guess,” he says. “They’ve done interviews with my moms, and Sam and Colleen have one scheduled for next week. After that it’s supposed to be home visits.” He blows the white bit of hair from his eyes. “Everyone keeps telling me to relax, that it’ll be fine, but it’s so—“

“Stressful,” Allura says. “Yes, I remember.” 

Shiro gapes at her just a bit. “Lance is—“

“Not mine biologically,” Allura answers. “I’ve had him since he was about six months. His parents were very good friends, and they asked me to be his godmother when they got pregnant. They were in a car crash. Michael died instantly, and Rosa held on for a few more days, and then I was the only one who could take him.”

She twirls the straw through her drink and takes a sip. “It’s funny,” she says. “I never once planned to have children. Never. Even as a kid myself, when you think that everyone eventually has kids because that’s just the thing we do, it always sounded so unappealing. And when they asked me to be godmother, it was with that string attached, that if anything ever happened to them, that Lance would come to me. Michael’s parents were already gone, his sister didn't have the financial security, and Rosa’s mother had early onset dementia, and her father just—“ She shakes her head. “So I knew, theoretically, that if something happened, I would have to take him, but it’s one of those—I know, right, I know exactly how easy it is for everything in life to be turned upside down, for something that’s there one minute to be gone the next, but I didn’t think it would happen again. And then—“

Shiro reaches across the table and takes her hand. She pulls a deep breath into her burning lungs. 

“You didn’t expect it,” Shiro says, “but you’re a really great mom.” 

Allura nods. 

“A really great mom,” Shiro says again. “I haven’t even known you very long, but I can tell. You juggle owning a company, having a kid—a kid with ADHD—being active in PTA and homeroom, Lance’s sports, and God only knows what else, and you make it look so easy. Most days I feel like I’m drowning.” 

Allura twists her hand to curl her fingers around his, her chest feeling warm. “You’re an amazing dad, too. Keith looks at you like you hung the moon.”

The waiter comes by with their food, and they slowly pull their hands away. They thank him, and Shiro says, “We both got a little heavy.”

Allura stirs the spoon in her soup. “It was nice, actually. I don’t really talk about it much. Coran worries.” 

“Does Lance know he’s adopted,” Shiro asks. 

“I told him over the summer,” she says. “He took it very well. Didn’t really seem to faze him. He might be more curious when he gets older, but for now—“ She just shrugs. She dunks the corner of her sandwich into the soup and takes a bite. “Mmm, this is why the universe created soup. No other reason.” 

“You ordered a whole bowl of it just for dunking,” Shiro asks, brow arched over his own sandwich.

“It’s a half bowl,” Allura corrects. “And what I don’t have here, I’ll bring home for sandwiches again tonight.” 

“Solid leftover usage.” 

“You should see my Tupperware collection. It’s very impressive,” she says. 

``

The lunch dates—he shouldn’t call them dates; it’s not like he’s asked her out with clear romantic intentions, and she hasn’t said anything either—become a weekly ritual. The bakery is nearly equidistant from their offices, a bit closer to his, thankfully, as he has more strict time limits than her, and they’re slowly working their way through the entire coffee menu. 

Talking to Allura is completely natural. Sometimes they get about as heavy as that first lunch, listing out insecurities when it comes to raising their children. Sometimes it’s venting job frustrations, how the kids are doing, who in particular in the PTA is about to get their head ripped off if they make one more snide remark. Sometimes it’s rapid fire rounds of twenty questions or the realization that they’re both addicted to the same show, which leads into them practically yelling over each other about the latest twist. 

Getting deep or just talking about the weather, it all feels comfortable and right with her. Shiro figures out that he's in a lot of trouble one day when he's too swamped to make it out to meet her, and she shows up at the library not an hour later with a crème brulée mocha  and stuffed croissant he's been dreaming about. 

``

Allura gave up a long time ago trying to convince Coran to not spoil Lance rotten. "If you have your way, this is going to be my only grandchild," Coran had said at Lance's fifth birthday, after she scolded him for showing up with seven different presents. "I'm going to smother him with love and material objects."

Theirs is a small family, but one would never guess that by looking at the carnage of Christmas morning. Her usually pristine living room is swallowed up in a sea of wrapping paper and ribbons. She's itching to clean it up, but there's no point until Lance finally passes out sometime around lunch. For now he's too excited about all his new toys and the prospect of showing them off to Hunk and Keith.

The only thing that can break him away from his loot is when Coran calls that breakfast is ready. Lance comes barreling into the kitchen, arms barely able to wrap around all the toys he can't be immediately parted with. "Two only at the table," Coran says, piling plates high with fluffy pancakes, eggs, and bacon.

Lance settles on an X-Wing and a dinosaur, and Allura gives him a cup of juice and his medicine. They all eat until they're nearly sick, and then Lance is off again. "Mom, can we put on the movie?" She's surprised it's taken even this long for the question. She turns on the TV, still on TBS where they left it last night, just in time to see the Bumpus hounds destroy the turkey.

"Mom, can I call Hunk," Lance asks not five minutes later.

"You'll see him tomorrow," Allura reminds him. "His mom has a shift, so she's bringing him over first thing."

"But that's not for forever," Lance cries. "I need to tell him about the X-Wing."

"His dad's in town only for the day," Allura says. "You know that's nonnegotiable." Lance groans in disappointment, but he does look a little understanding. He knows how rare it is that Hunk actually has both of his parents home at the same time.

The rest of the morning is spent halfheartedly watching _A Christmas Story_ , with Lance popping over occasionally to ask how to make a certain part of a new toy work. Allura gets a few good recordings of him and Coran spread out on the floor as they recreate elaborate battle scenes. She kicks at Coran's ankle a few times when he starts getting a little too true to life.

Eventually, Lance finally falls asleep, arms wrapped around a dinosaur, and using a pile of paper as a pillow. Coran pulls himself up and stretches out a crick in his back. Allura's phone pings with a text from Shiro, and she smiles widely at the selfie featuring pajamas that match the blurry figure in the background that is most likely Keith. 

"Who are you texting," Coran asks innocently, and Allura settles a firm look at him.

"Don't you start," she warns.

He smooths down his mustache. "Your boyfriend then," he says delightedly, hands clasped over his heart. "Never thought I'd see the day."

"You haven't seen the day. He's not—we are not dating, Coran," Allura says.

"You get lunch with him every week. Those are dates, my dear. You text him constantly. You invited him and his boy to come trick or treating with us."

"As friends," Allura insists. "And we've brought Hunk trick or treating for the past three years."

"Because if you didn't, the poor lad would never get to go," Coran says. "What exactly is so wrong with letting yourself have this? Lance likes him. He likes Lance. Your boys both get along for the most part. And you like him, Allura."

She does. She likes Shiro so much. She looks forward to their weekly lunches. She perks up when she sees a message from him on her phone or in her inbox. She replays their conversations, and even the most boring and provincial of them still leave her with butterflies in her stomach. His smile makes her feel warm, and she trusts him. She trusts him with her fears and insecurities.

But she hasn't cared for someone like this since before Lance came into her life. Since then, he, his welfare and his happiness, that's been the most important thing. She wants Lance to have the best and most fulfilled life she can give him, and between that and the company, she's never really had time for anything else. Or she hasn't let herself have time.

But Shiro understands all that. He has Keith now, and he agrees with Allura that the kids come before everything else. Of course they could have other people in their lives, but they both think there isn't much point to it if they aren't in it for the long run. Allura just can't bring someone into their lives, have Lance love that person, and then have it all fall apart. She refuses to see that look of heartbreak on her son's face.

But God, she can see it, having a life with Shiro. Curled up on the couch in pajamas watching their stories together, not just having to recite them to each other later. Dancing around each other and the kids in the kitchen, trying to get dinner cooked and on the table. Trying to come to a democratic resolution about where to take a weekend trip—Lance loves the water, but she's already been told by Shiro that Keith can't really swim. Movies and dinner dates, real dates where they hold hands and smile and kiss. Falling asleep next to him every night and waking up to him every morning.

She can see it all with him. She can see it with Keith. So why is she still so reluctant to take it for herself?

``

The first PTA meeting after the holidays, Allura is glad she extended the offer to have Coran watch Keith as well as Lance for the evening. Shiro walks out of the meeting with her, eyes wide and practically clutching his pearls. "What the hell did I just witness," he cries.

"I told you," Allura says. "Want to go grab a beer?"

"If you'll let me bitch about that witch for suggesting we don't love our kids as much as she does because we're single parents," he says.

"Yes, that was going to be my opening line," Allura says.

"I cannot believe!"

"Right?"

"Of course I have a full time job! I'm a single fucking dad!"

"Welcome to the PTA."

``

"So what sports or after school things do you have Lance in right now," Shiro asks, his phone pressed to his ear with his shoulder as he browses the cereal aisle. "Keith wants to do something to get out all that extra energy, but I think he'd do better if he knew the kids he'd be playing with. We're considering maybe taekwando or something to work on the aggression, but he still needs to be in something that helps with being a team player."

 _"Basketball right now,"_ Allura answers. _"But you've missed the sign up dates. And either way, basketball is very loud. It might not suit Keith so well at first. Have you considered Little League? It doesn't start up until March, and the kids aren't packed in as close. He could have some better distance."_

"Yeah," Shiro says. "He likes catch. Actually has a pretty wicked curve ball for an eight year old."

_"If he's interested, we can always carpool. We already take Hunk most weekends."_

"You in the works to adopt him too," Shiro asks, finally deciding on Oops! All Berries.

 _"Lord, if it ever came down to that, the boys would both die on the spot and then resurrect themselves to demand bunkbeds,"_ she sighs.

``

Lance nearly has a meltdown in the middle of the toy store the afternoon they go to pick out something for Hunk’s birthday. He is distracted by everything, grabbing boxes and telling Allura and Shiro in detail just how much Hunk would like each item. He knows they have to pick just one thing, but he can’t seem to narrow it down. He glares at Keith, who trails after him clinging to a large tub of Legos that he had quickly selected because “Hunk likes to build things.”

But Lance can’t decide what he wants to get his best friend, and they’ve already been in the store for nearly forty-five minutes. Allura is getting frustrated, but she knows better than to let that show. This is difficult for Lance, who loves Hunk with all his little heart and just wants to get him something that reflects that.

When the tears start to well up in his eyes, Shiro moves in first. He drops down to his knee and leans in close. “Let’s pull in a deep breath, ok, buddy,” Shiro says, and Lance follows his lead shakily. “It’s so nice of you to put in all this thought into what you want to get Hunk. You love him a lot, huh?”

“So much,” Lance cries. “That’s why I need to get him the best present.”

“You know what I think,” Shiro says, dropping a hand on Lance’s shoulder and pulling him into a half hug. “I think Hunk knows how much you love him, and so anything you get, he’s going to think it’s the best thing because it came from you.”

Keith pops up on Lance’s other side. “Yeah, remember when he laughed about your stupid lion joke the other day? That was the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard someone say, and Hunk still thought it was funny.”

Lance sticks his tongue out at Keith. “Your pep talks suck,” he says.

Allura immediately snaps, “Lance,” and offers a hard stare at Shiro, who is actively fighting down a smile.

Keith grabs at Lance’s arm and pulls him over to the cart. He studies the options Lance has picked out so far and then says, “Ok, tell me a number between one and ten.”

“Um, five,” Lance says, looking back into the cart. “But there’s more than ten—“

“Up or down,” Keith asks, still not taking his eyes from the numerous boxes.

“Up?”

“OK, now pick a color from the rainbow,” Keith says.

“Blue—no, wait, it’s for Hunk, so yellow,” Lance says.

Keith reaches into the cart and pulls out a circuits kit. On its own, it’s probably not much of a challenge for Hunk, who can’t seem to help himself when there’s a piece of technology just lying around, but with all the spare parts he has collected, he can probably make something new and interesting that will very definitely void any warranty the toy might come with. “Here,” Keith says, pushing the box into Lance’s chest, “this is what you’re getting him.”

“Yeah, he’ll love this,” Lance says, hugging the box close. He rubs at his eyes and smiles at Keith. Keith grins back and pulls him down the aisle to look at something else.

“Well,” Allura says, depositing the discarded toys back onto the shelves, “disaster averted. He’s getting good at it.”

“They both are. Lance stopped Keith from having one in the park last weekend,” Shiro says. “They’re actually working together and being a team.” He clasps his hands dreamily.

“Never tell them that,” Allura laughs. “They’ll deny it to their last breaths.”

``

Hunk’s party is the usual sort for a kid whose birthday is smack in the middle of winter. Pizza and bowling, same as it’s been since the kids were old enough to be trusted with pushing the bowling balls down the lanes. With Shiro and Keith on her heels, Allura arrives early to help with the set up. The boys all collide with each other, Lance and Keith both excitedly pushing their gifts at Hunk to take and put up on the spare table.

“Thank God, you’re here,” Naomi Garrett cries, making her way over with a box full of decorations. “I was just about to start putting up these streamers.”

“You’d never reach,” Allura says with a laugh, rummaging through the box as soon as Naomi sets it down.

“Not without a pair of stilts,” she agrees. “Hi, you must be Keith’s dad,” she adds, sticking out a hand towards Shiro.

“Yes,” he says, taking it. “Shiro. Nice to finally meet you.”

“Very overdue,” Naomi says. “The boys talk about your son all the time. Now that we’ve actually met, we’ll have to let them all have a sleepover sometime.”

“You really want to bring that down on your head,” Allura asks.

“Oh, no,” Naomi says wickedly. “Not me. You. That is definitely a job for someone who has unlimited access to Coran’s time.”

With the three of them working, they get all the decorations and paper plates and party hats into place just in time for the other kids to arrive. It’s immediately a whirlwind of chaos. “Holy crap, this is kind of a nightmare,” Shiro mutters to Allura after the fourth time a kid has nearly knocked him over. The only children’s birthday parties he’s ever been to before have all been Pidge’s, and at her age, it’s still far more about the adults.

“I won’t tell you they’ll settle in, because that would be a bold faced lie,” Allura says, “but once the games get started, the madness will all be concentrated down there. For now, beer helps.” She holds up a mug with a light smile.

“Very rude to make a run and not take orders,” Shiro says, moving to try and snatch her beer. She swats at him and swerves out of the way.

``

Allura pulls into the bakery parking lot just a few minutes late, her road rage settling, but she fully intends to open lunch with a vicious complaint about the lack of driving skills of certain ugly tan Toyota Corolla drivers in this city. Shiro is waiting out by the door, his hands shoved into the pockets of his coat and bouncing on the balls of his feet. There's something odd about his facial expression, an almost sort of nervousness, and she hopes he hadn't thought she was standing him up.

"Shiro," she calls as she approaches. "So sorry about that. I was—“

She doesn't get to finish. As soon as he sees her, Shiro breaks for her at a dead sprint and wraps his arms around her, lifting her up off the ground. All brain function ceases for a few seconds until she finally registers what he's saying.

"I got him. I got him. They called me right before I left the library. I got Keith."

Allura lets out an excited cry of joy and returns his embrace with equal strength. "That's wonderful," she says.

"I can't believe it," Shiro says, his voice nearly breaking. "I can't—it feels like a dream."

"No, you did it," she says, sliding her fingers through his hair. "You did it. I'm so happy for you both."

They stand that way for a few minutes, Shiro clinging to her, his face buried against her shoulder. Finally he pulls back, just a little. His eyes are wet, but he's smiling. "Sorry I just grabbed you," he says. He doesn't let her go.

"Quite all right," she says. She doesn't move her arms from around his neck.

"Do you want to get dinner," he asks breathlessly. "I mean, tonight I want to spend with Keith, but tomorrow? Like a date? A real date?"

She nods enthusiastically and then pushes up higher on her toes and kisses him.

``

"I don't want to hear a single word out of your mouth, Holt," Shiro says as he wraps Keith a bit more snuggly in the blanket and picks him up. He makes a little snort but then falls right back against Shiro's shoulder.

Matt just grins. "I didn't say anything at all about your lovely and long overdue date with the nice lady that you like," he says.

"You're a bad friend," Shiro says. "A bad friend who is very lucky I'm holding my sleeping kid right now."

"I am an amazing friend who expects a call tomorrow with all the details," Matt counters. Shiro flips him off as he leaves the Holts' house—Matt responds by blowing kisses after him—but he does end up calling the next day to tell him all about the date. "I'm proud of you, buddy," Matt says. "You're having a really awesome week."

``

"So, you don't have to at all, but we're getting dinner after we leave the courthouse, if you and Lance want to come," Shiro offers.

"Why wouldn't we want to come," Allura asks.

"My moms are flying in," Shiro says. "And you know, that's kind of—it's way too early, right?"

She leans against the palm of one hand, her other wrapped around his. "You've met Coran multiple times," she says.

"We weren't dating then," Shiro argues. "And my moms are—they can be a little—“

"Again, you've met Coran," Allura says. "It's fine. We'd love to come."

Shiro regrets everything the moment he tells his moms that Allura will be joining them. "Finally," his mother says, throwing her hands up in the air. "I've been waiting months to meet my future daughter-in-law."

Shiro turns a longsuffering expression to his stepmother, who just laughs. "You knew better than to ever mention her before you proposed."

"Mom, please," Shiro says. "We've literally just started dating, like two weeks ago. I've only known her since September."

"That doesn't matter to your mother," Amanda says. She looks fondly at her wife, who is still talking to no one about how she never thought this day would come.

"Haha, please," Shiro says. "I'm begging you. If you have to keep talking like that, please do it in Japanese so only the three of us know how awful you're being."

Kotone waves him off, but thankfully does switch to Japanese as soon as Keith walks in the room. Shiro and Allura haven't sat down the boys yet to tell them that they're dating. It's still very new, and they want it to be a little more solid before they set anything up for the kids.

At 3:00, they all get into the car to head over to the courthouse to sign the adoption papers. As they walk up to the building, Keith slips his hand into Shiro's. Shiro looks down and sees that Keith's face is ghost white. He calls to his moms, a couple of yards ahead, to wait for a moment, and then he drops down to his knee to get closer to Keith's eye level. "Hey, hey, buddy, what is it?"

"I'm scared. I think I'm gonna throw up," Keith says.

Shiro angles him just a bit off so that if he does puke, Shiro won't be in the direct line of fire. He rubs his hand over Keith's back. "Why are you scared?"

"What if—what if they say I can't stay? What if they change their minds?" Keith's eyes well up with tears, and Shiro pulls him into a tight hug.

"They won't, I promise," he says.

"And—and you really want me to stay," Keith asks, clinging to him.

Shiro kisses the side of his head. "Keith, I've never wanted anything so much in my entire life. I love you."

The smile Keith gives him is so wide and wonderful that Shiro honestly thinks it puts a few years back on his life. "I love you too, Shiro," Keith says.

Everything from the moment they walk through the courthouse doors happens in a blur. Shiro is vaguely aware of Amanda with her phone out almost the entire time. He'll have to look later to see if she's taking pictures or recording. He notices Keith climb up his back at one point to watch him sign the paper. His mother cries and hugs him tight and tells him she knows his father would be so proud of them both. Keith is so giddy as they leave that he doesn't squirm once when both Kotone and Amanda press kisses to his cheeks.

They get to the restaurant before the Holts and Alteas. It's another wide open patio with a good play place he's discovered thanks to Allura. They settle into a table right between two heaters, and Kotone manages to keep Keith curled into her side. "This is such a perfect day," she says happily, her cheek pressed into Keith's hair. "We have the most beautiful grandson."

Keith blushes a bit. "Really," he asks.

"Of course," Kotone says. "You're such a handsome boy!"

"No, I mean—“ Keith bites down on his bottom lip. "I'm your grandson?"

Kotone blinks, and Amanda says, "Oh, honey. Of course you are."

Shiro pushes Keith's hair from his eyes. "Keith, signing those papers today, it's not just that you get to live with me from now on and won't go back into the system."

"Yeah, you're my legal guardian now, not the state."

"You're my son," Shiro says. "That's how I see you. And I'm your dad. You can—you can call me that if you want." Keith's eyes goes impossibly wide. "You don't have to," Shiro says quickly, because that's a big step, even bigger than what they've already done today. "But you can."

"Well," Kotone says, "he definitely has to start calling me Baba. I will not stand for anything less."

Amanda props her chin on her palms. "I haven't decided yet," she says. "Nothing wrong with Grandma, but if she's going to be Baba, I want something cuter. Think you can run a few ideas by me, Keith?"

"Um," Keith starts, unsure. He looks up at Shiro. "I don't know any others."

"Why don't you ask Lance when he gets here," Shiro suggests, and Keith rolls his eyes so hard it moves his entire body. Shiro laughs. "Or see what Matt and Pidge use."

"Pidge'll have way better ideas than that dork," Keith grumbles.

"[Which one is Lance? Is that one who's going to be my next grandson,]" Kotone asks eagerly.

"Haha," Shiro groans.

"What," she asks. "I said it in Japanese like you asked."

"Said what in Japanese," Keith asks, tugging on Shiro's sleeve when he just buries his face in his hands.

The Holts meet them first, and hugs are exchanged all around. Pidge immediately wants to go off to the play place, so Keith takes her hand and leads her away. A few minutes later, a brown and blue blur nearly runs right by them yelling, "Hi, Shiro!" But Shiro has developed a pretty good situational awareness of Lance over the past few months, and he reaches out to grab him before he can make it past.

Lance laughs breathlessly as Shiro hooks him around his middle and lifts him up. "Hey, buddy," Shiro says, bouncing him once and then setting him back down. "Want to really say hello to everyone?"

"Real fast before Mom gets here and makes me put on gloves again," Lance says. He waves at the Holts, high fives Matt, and shakes hands with Kotone and Amanda. "Ok, I wanna go play now." And he's off before anyone could think to stop him.

Allura is just a couple of seconds too late. "Gloves and scarf, young man," she hollers after him, shaking the aforementioned objects in her hand.

"I can't hear you suddenly," Lance yells back, swooping down to grab Pidge and pull her and Keith over to the seesaw.

Shiro and Matt snort, and Allura turns to them. "You know he learned that from listening to you two quote memes," she accuses.

Shiro shrugs apologetically, and she rolls her eyes. He opens his arms a little, and her expression turns more fond. She slides up to him and pushes up on her toes for a kiss. "Congratulations," she says, hugging him tight. "How was it?"

"Amazing," Shiro says. "Best day of my life."

"So, Takashi," Kotone says, unable to wait any longer. "Whoever is this?"

Shiro groans just a little bit and looks pleadingly at Amanda, who shakes her head. "Right," he says and makes the introductions. He's grateful to Allura. She stands there perfectly serene under his moms' obvious once and twice overs.

Finally his mother smiles in that way that is real first impression approval—not just oh thank God my son is finally dating someone again—and says to Amanda, "[She's perfect. So is her son. Our grandbabies, all of them, they're going to be the prettiest ones we know. We win.]"

"Suck it, Becky Lewis," Amanda says giddily.

Allura looks up at Shiro and arches a brow. "Do I want to know?"

Shiro hangs his head. "Maybe we can just order some drinks, please?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1: Matt totally dresses up as R2-D2 for Halloween  
> 2: if anyone is interested, my headcanon for Shiro and his moms is that the Shiroganes all lived in Japan until Shiro was about 8 or so, and his dad just drops one day out of the blue (heart attack or aneurysm or something), and his mom decides that life is too short and too unpredictable to not do the things you dream about, and since she and her husband, both of whom had very simple Safe And Respectable Jobs, used to talk about how exciting it would be to just start over in a new place, she takes Shiro and moves to America and dives into painting. Through this, she meets an art gallery owner or critic or something and wow new love so they get married, and that's how Shiro gets a new mom.  
> 3: happy birthday to my sweet yellow space son. kind of a blink and you miss it deal, but the sequel i'm planning to this fic will be from the kids' pov, so way more hunk and pidge (you know, provided i actually manage to finish this one)


	3. Chapter 3

"What do you think about Keith staying over tonight," Allura asks as they drizzle icing over the cinnamon rolls.

"How come?" Lance dips his finger into the bowl and pops it in his mouth before she can stop him.

"Well, Shiro and I were thinking about going to see a movie—a grown up movie," she adds before he can try to weasel his way into the date. "So if we do that, you and Keith can have a slumber party with Gramp."

Lance considers this and says, "We've had a lot of slumber parties since his grandmas came in town."

Allura's stomach jolts a little bit. They still haven't told the boys that they're dating. They haven't quite figured out how to yet. Both are very serious about the relationship, but sitting the boys down and telling them almost feels like promising them something more. Allura thinks she wants that, but it's still too soon to open that up to the kids.

It's a diversion, but she offers, "Maybe if you ask nice, Gramp will make candy popcorn."

Lance's eyes blow wide as he takes the bait. "I thought that was only for special days."

"Well, I think we can have some fun on occasion," she says.

Lance's nose crinkles. "Yeah, but since when are you fun?"

Allura gapes. "Why you little—“ Lance grins and tries to jump away, but she grabs him and begins to tickle him mercilessly. "I'll show you fun!"

"No, Mom, no!" Lance screams with laughter, screams that turn to shrieks when she blows a wet kiss onto his cheek.

Once they calm down, Lance agrees to having Keith over, after she sweetens the pot a little with letting him pick a movie to rent. He has plenty, but there's just something about the allure of getting to pick out a new, temporary one that always draws him in.

He flies at Coran's legs when he walks in the door—he's going to break his knees one day, she worries—and starts begging for the candy popcorn. "Mom said we could," he insists.

"We only just finished up all of the Christmas batch," Coran says, ruffling up Lance's hair. "Do you want to do the caramel ones?"

"Can we still have sprinkles on it," Lance asks.

"Well, obviously," Coran says, ushering him into the kitchen to whip up a batch.

Once the popcorn is in the oven, Lance wanders into her bathroom to watch her fix her hair and put on makeup. It's such a usual occurrence that it takes Allura until she's nearly done before she notices that something is off. He's being quiet. Or at least, quiet for him.

He pulls her into the kitchen by her hand to check out the cooling snack. "We did sprinkles," he says, leaning against her side. "Blue."

"As if you'd pick anything else," she says, slipping her fingers through his hair.

"We did yellow last time Hunk made it with us. Hunk likes yellow best," Lance says.

There's a knock on the door, and Coran calls, "I'll get it." He opens the front door to greet Shiro and Keith, and Lance wraps his arms around Allura's hips.

She looks down at him as they all wander back in. "Smells good in here," Shiro says, dropping Keith’s duffel bag on one of the chairs. "Hey, kiddo." He waves at Lance, who just holds onto Allura tighter.

"Lance, look," Keith says, holding out his DS. "Baba and Gamma sent me the new Pokémon game yesterday."

Allura looks up at Shiro with an arched brow. He sighs. "We're getting a new box every week," he says. "They're trying to buy his love, and it's working. I don't know how I'm supposed to keep up with this spoiling."

"You can't," Coran says. "Spoiling is one of the best parts of being a grandparent. We live for it."

"Most of the time, I don't get a chance to buy anything for Lance, because he's already done it," Allura says, and Coran just puffs his chest out proudly.

They miss the beginning of what starts it, but they hear Keith snap, "What's up your butt?" and Lance's answering, "Nothing!" and loud raspberry.

"Hey," Allura says sharply, and Lance pushes his face against her stomach. "You're not going to misbehave for Gramp, are you?"

"When are you coming back," Lance asks.

"I—we're going to get some dinner before the movie," she says, a little bit thrown by the one-eighty. "It'll be way after bedtime."

"Can't I stay up until you get back?"

"No, Lance. It'll be very late," she says.

"But it's a weekend," Lance protests.

"Even for a weekend," she says. He looks completely dejected, and she stoops a little to ask, "Are you ok, bug?"

"Yeah," he says, but she sees him give Shiro a suspicious glance from the corner of his eye.

It takes a little bit of prying to get loose from him, and then Shiro notes the time. He pulls her coat out from the entry closet and holds it open for her to slip into. They don't get out the door without Lance giving her another tight hug and very nearly glaring at Shiro.

For a few minutes, she doesn't know what to make of it at all, but then, as they pull out of the neighborhood, it hits her, and she laughs. "What," Shiro asks.

"We're going to have to tell the boys," she says, reaching out and sliding her hand over his shoulders. Shiro throws her a quick confused glance before turning back to the road. "I think Lance has kind of figured it out."

Shiro bites at his bottom lip. "He—um—he didn't look happy," he says carefully.

"He likes you, babe," Allura says.

"Enough to be dating his mom," Shiro asks.

Allura doesn't answer for a moment. "We'll talk to them tomorrow," she says. "That's all we can do."

``

It’s after midnight when they slip back into the house. They had considered going to Shiro’s, but that means waking up exceedingly early to make it to her house before the boys wake up. Coran is still awake, sitting in the living room with droopy eyes and reading a book. “You didn’t have to stay up,” Allura scolds him.

“Not a problem,” he says, standing and stretching. He smiles. “How was your date?”

“You get too much enjoyment from this,” Allura says.

He doesn’t deny it. “I would like to give you a heads up, though. The boys were very secretive tonight.”

“Secretive how,” Shiro asks.

“Lots of whispering about something,” Coran says. “And Lance’s mood didn’t improve much.”

Allura cracks her knuckles absently. “We’ll have that talk in the morning,” she says. “Are you heading home or taking the guest room?”

“I think I’ll make my way,” he says with a wink, and Allura swats at him.

She offers up a dry look to Shiro when she sees him hiding a smile behind his hand. “What,” he asks. “It’s nice to have parental approval.” She rolls her eyes and heads up to her bedroom. He’s on her heels. “He’s better than my moms; that’s all I’m saying. I’m so glad you don’t speak Japanese.”

“Maybe I’ll learn,” she says.

“That’ll only make them worse,” Shiro says.

She opens her door and for the briefest second scolds herself for forgetting to turn the lamp off. It’s not a big deal, but it is a pointless waste of electricity. Then she notices the little lump in the middle of the bed. “Lance,” she asks, and he lifts up his head. His hair is all a mess, but his eyes are far too clear. He’s wide awake. “Lance, what are you doing in here?”

He lays his head back down as she hurries over to the side of the bed. “I just wanted to see you when you got home,” he says. He looks over and sees Shiro still standing in the doorway. He burrows deeper into the comforter.

Allura slips her fingers through his hair. “Well, I’m home now, honey,” she says. “Past bedtime, just like I told you. Come on, let’s go back to your room.”

“Do I have to?” His voice wobbles, and Allura’s heart skips a beat.

“Bug, what’s wrong?”

She pulls him up a little, and he rubs his eyes. “I just missed you, Mama," he says, and that cuts her. He doesn't call her mama very much anymore. It only happens when he's very upset.

The tears start up just few seconds later, and Allura wraps him up in her arms. A moment later, Shiro's hand falls on her shoulder. "Hey," he says lowly. "I'm going to grab Keith and go."

"No, you don't have to do that," Allura says, rubbing her hand over Lance's back.

"He's really upset," Shiro starts.

"It's late, Shiro," she says. "No need to wake up Keith. Just take the guest room, all right?" He looks unsure. "It's fine. Go ahead."

He considers for a moment and says, "Ok. If you need anything—" She nods. He looks down at Lance like he wants to say something, but he has no idea what. "We'll see you in the morning," he mutters and leaves quietly.

Lance curls up tighter in her lap, and Allura rocks him like he hasn't really let her in a long time. "What is it, bug," she asks. "What's wrong?"

Lance sniffles loudly. "I'm sorry, Mom. You like Shiro, huh?"

"Yes, I do," she admits. "Don't you?" He doesn't look at her, but he nods. "Then what's wrong?"

"He was going to sleep in here with you," Lance asks. "Like married people do?"

He all but caught them red handed, so she doesn't skirt around it. "Yes, he was going to stay."

"Are you going to get married?"

"We haven't talked about that yet," she says. "Is that not something you'd like?" He doesn't answer. Allura pulls back and tries to meet his gaze. "Bug, if you like Shiro, then why are you so upset?" His shoulders hunch up around his ears. "You can tell me, bug. You can always tell me anything, ok?"

He tries to hold it in, but it spills out of him like water from a busted dam. "If you marry Shiro, then he'd come live here, and Keith would too. And you'd probably adopt him, right? And we'd both be adopted, so I wouldn't be the only one anymore, and what if—what if you like Keith better than me?"

Allura can't pull him back into her arms fast enough. "Oh, honey, no," she says, her cheek pressed against his hair. "Lance, honey, listen to me, ok? You are my baby. I love you more than anything in the world. Yes, if Shiro and I stay together, then I'm going to make some room in my heart for him and for Keith, but that will never, ever mean I love you less."

She kisses his forehead. "It's just been me and you for a long time now," she says. "And it's going to take some getting used to, adding Shiro and Keith. But if you aren't ok, then we'll step back. It's ok if you aren't ready."

"No," Lance says, hugging her tighter. "I like Shiro. He's nice, and you smile a lot when he's with us."

She squeezes him back. "We should have talked to you both about this before," Allura says. "I'm sorry, bug. We were just waiting for a good time. But you figured it out."

"Keith didn't," Lance says around a sniffle. "He had no idea what I was talking about."

“What did you tell him,” Allura asks. Best to know what they’ll be dealing with in the morning.

“Nothing really,” Lance says. “Just in case I was wrong, but I wasn’t.” He wraps a lock of her hair around his finger, and he still sounds so sad and confused.

“It’s very late, bug,” she says. “Do you want to sleep in here with me tonight?”

He nods and waits patiently for her to wash her face and change into pajamas. Then he cuddles up against her, falling asleep to her gentle humming.

`` 

Shiro thinks he probably gets a little bit of sleep, but whatever it is ends up being fitful. He can’t get the image of Lance crying out of his mind. The poor kid. It just makes Shiro feel like an asshole. Shiro had been pretty secure under the assumption that Lance likes him. He is always happy to see him, asks him to play, chats up a storm, the whole nine yards. But his reaction to figuring them out, it’s the opposite of what Shiro both assumed and hoped for.

And if Lance doesn’t like him being in the picture like that, well, Shiro knows what his decision would be if Keith felt like that. Allura’s always been in agreement with him. The kids come first. And that selfish part of him thinks this really fucking sucks, because he’s in deep for Allura. He’s in deep for Lance too, but if Lance doesn’t want him around—

Around 6:30, he knows he’s not going to get anymore sleep, so he drags himself out of bed and into the guest bathroom. He splashes his face, gargles some mouthwash, and heads down to put on the coffee. For a moment he considers waking Keith up and heading out, but Allura would tear him a new one.

Not to mention, if he did that, he really wouldn’t deserve either of them.

He nurses a cup as he checks over the news, and after a bit Keith wanders in, rubbing his eyes. His bedhead is truly spectacular, and Shiro is a little disappointed in himself that he left his phone upstairs. “Hey, buddy, hungry,” he asks. Keith shakes his head. “Thirsty?” Keith nods. “Milk or juice?” Keith squints, and Shiro corrects his error. “Juice?”

Keith nods, and Shiro pours him a glass. Keith takes it, gulps down half, and then shuffles into the living room. The TV comes to life, and Shiro can hear the sounds of the newest Ninja Turtles reboot playing.

As usual, Allura is the next one awake. She comes through the living room still struggling to get all of her hair tied back in a bun. She stops for just a moment to drop a kiss on top of Keith’s head. He hums in response. Shiro has a mug waiting for her, and she takes it gratefully. He wants to launch into the conversation right away. It’s been gnawing at him all night, but he tries to give her a moment to get the sleep out of her eyes.

A few sips in, she looks over, takes in his expressions, and says, “Relax. It’s not as bad as it looked.”

“He was crying,” Shiro says lowly. “In your bed. After midnight.”

Allura shakes her head and motions him over to the table. She takes a bigger gulp of the coffee, wincing a bit as she forces it down. “Yes, he figured it all out,” she says. “And it’s not at all that he doesn’t like you. He was scared that if we stayed together, if we—“ She pauses for a moment. “—if we got married and all that, he was scared that I might not love him as much anymore.”

Shiro’s heart somehow both breaks and lifts at the same time. It leaves him a little dizzy. “Shit,” he mutters.

Allura reaches out and takes his hand. “I told him that would never be the case, that he’s my baby, and that we would move slower if that’s what he wanted. He doesn’t want you to go anywhere. It’s just always been me and him, and the change is going to take some getting used to.”

Keith comes back in after a while, now awake enough to use words to ask for more juice and some toast to hold him over until Lance wakes up and they can make a real breakfast. It happens faster than it usually would, mostly because Shiro is such a fidgeting bundle of nerves that Allura goes upstairs to wake up her son just to get this all over with.

There’s a weird sort of tension when he walks into the kitchen behind his mother. Lance wakes up later but much better than Keith, so he is bright and alert with nothing to indicate that he was still asleep five minutes ago other than the cowlick on the top of his head. Lance goes to the table and sits across from Shiro, his eyes sharp and narrowed. Shiro has to actively tell himself to meet that gaze.

Keith picks up on the tension and tugs at Allura’s sleeve. “Do you know why Lance is mad at Shiro,” he asks lowly, but they can all hear him. “He was being weird yesterday too.”

“No one is mad,” Allura says, guiding Keith to sit next to Lance, “but we all have some things to talk about.”

And they finally come clean to the kids about being together, when it started, why they didn’t say anything before now, and that they’re both sorry for keeping secrets from them. Keith blinks big eyes first at them and then twice at Lance. He frowns, far more curious than upset, and says, “Ok, hang on.” He grabs Lance’s arm and pulls him out of the room. Footsteps pound loudly up the stairs, and they hear the door to Lance’s room shut.

After a moment, Shiro says, “I honestly have no idea if that went well or not.”

Allura stares up at the ceiling with narrowed eyes as if willing the laws of physics to break and allow her to both see and hear through it. “It would be a breach of their privacy to go listen at the door, wouldn’t it,” she asks in a way that isn’t asking. She knows the answer.

“Yes,” Shiro says sternly, because even though she knows the answer, she still needs to be told.

“Dammit,” she snaps. “I should never ask you.” Despite the knot in his stomach, Shiro smiles at her. Allura is a huge gossip and snoop. She’ll take it from any source at any level. He’s seen her dish with Hunk about the goings on of second graders.

They wait a long time for the boys to come back down. Another round of coffee. A debate on several different brunch options that includes pulling out cookbooks and looking up ingredient substitutions on the internet. Considering making a pitcher of bloody marys.

She likes far more worchestershire than he does, and they’re still in the middle of a staring contest when the boys come back into the kitchen with a stack of construction paper. “We have a list of demands,” Lance declares, and Allura and Shiro both elbow each other at the same to time try to stop each other from bursting into laughter.

Keith and Lance glare up at them with that sort of indignation that Shiro thinks you can only pull off when you’re still a kid, and Allura smooths herself into diplomatic mode first. “All right,” she says, gesturing to the table. “Let’s hear them.”

They all resume their seats, and Lance picks up the first orange piece of paper. Directly under it, on the red, written in purple, is a pros and cons list that Allura looks like she wants to snatch up. Keith catches the look and pulls the pile in front of him, his hands splayed over it to keep them from being able to read it.

“We want a dog,” Lance says, and they immediately both answer, “No.”

“We’ve talked about this, Lance,” Allura adds.

“You said we couldn’t get one because it was just the two of us and we were too busy,” Lance says. “But if there’s four of us, then we could all take care of a dog just fine.”

“Shiro and Keith are busy too,” Allura says.

The boys exchange a look, and Lance nods. Keith says, “We’re willing to give up Cub Scouts.”

This time Allura and Shiro exchange a look. Cub Scouts is one of the boys’ biggest time consumers, between meetings, retreats, and fundraisers. It would take Shiro off assistant pack leader and Allura from committee chair, and it wouldn’t hurt the group as there are plenty of active parents ready to step up.

“We’re not saying yes,” Shiro says slowly.

“But we’ll consider it. Having a dog is a huge commitment. It’s not a toy to be discarded when you’re bored,” Allura says. “And we don’t all live together, so it’s not something that would be done immediately either way.”

“Yeah, but you want to,” Keith says. “Lance said you sleep in the same bed like married people.”

“Oh my God,” Shiro mutters, struggling to not drop his face into his hands.

“For now, no,” Allura says, bringing them back on track. “But we’ll allow further discussion later.”

The boys look at each other for agreement, and Lance reads off the second demand. “My toys are still mine. Keith’s toys are still his. Like I don’t have to equally split time with my tablet just because he doesn’t have one.”

“And he can’t erase any of my Zelda files because he only has the new games,” Keith adds. “If he wants to play mine, he has to ask and he can’t save.”

“That sounds fair,” Shiro says.

Lance consults the paper. “Take the parental controls off the TV and Netflix.”

“Not on your life,” Shiro says. The boys open their mouths to protest, and he says, “No.”

“Mom,” Lance whines.

“Until the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come stops scaring you, the parental controls stay on,” she says. Lance sputters indignantly.

Shiro leans over and mutters in her ear, “Are you talking about the Muppet one?”

“Yes,” she whispers back.

“Then in all fairness, I should be blocked too because it’s been over twenty years, and I’m still not ok with that either,” he says.

“Stay strong, babe,” she says, patting his knee. “Next.”

“Move weekend bedtime to midnight,” Lance says.

“As late as we want when we have babysitters,” Keith adds.

“Nine o’clock to both,” Allura counters. “Final offer.”

“Don’t we have to exchange more numbers before you say final offer? That’s how it works on TV,” Keith says. “We say eleven.”

“Ten,” Shiro says.

“Deal,” Lance yells and slaps his hand on the table. Keith winces and pushes him a little. Shiro exchanges a light smile with Allura. He doesn’t see either of them lasting until after 9:30 for another couple of years.

A few other light demands come through. Equal opportunity access to the cookie jar. Full size coke cans, not the mini 7.5 ounce ones. A LEGO Millennium Falcon set that they are willing to share.

“I assume that when we all live together for real, Keith and Shiro are moving here,” Lance says. “Our house is bigger, and we have a pool.”

“We haven’t talked about that yet,” Allura says, looking over at him.

“But, yes, those are very good points,” Shiro says.

Keith nods, and Lance continues, “I know we have to keep one room open, like for when Gramp sleeps over here, because grownups have old bodies and can’t sleep on couches.”

Allura’s hand jerks towards her phone, but she stops herself and mutters at Shiro, “Remind me.” Shiro tries not to laugh, because Coran will be so offended and will probably throw out his back trying to prove to the kids that he’s still spry.

“So we know we’ll have to share a room,” Lance says. “But we’ll only do that if we get bunk beds.”

“And we get to pick which ones,” Keith says.

“Within reason,” Allura says. “Not one shaped like a—a giant castle or something.”

“But what if that’s the best one,” Keith says.

“No, the best one would have a slide on it,” Lance says. “And slides don’t go with castles.”

“Ok, first, in what world? How many play places look like castles? So many. The answer is so many,” Keith says. “And second, if we find one with a castle and a slide, we’re reopening the who gets top bunk debate.”

“We settled that,” Lance cries.

“Not with castles in consideration,” Keith argues. “Or—or what if we found one like a rocket ship? And the slide down was painted like flames?”

“Oh my God!” Lance flails in utter delight, and Shiro pats Allura’s shoulder in condolences for all of her carefully chosen furniture. Her interior design vision has survived Lance for eight years, but it looks like it won’t stand up to both Lance and Keith.

“Mom,” Lance cries, his eyes shining. “Mom, Shiro, please!”

Maybe Shiro is kind of a pushover when it comes to kids, especially these two kids. Maybe he’s letting himself be sort of slightly blackmailed. Or bribed. Whichever is the right word choice here. It’s just that less than twelve hours ago, Lance was crying because he was scared that Shiro and Keith coming into his mom’s life would end up pushing him out, and now he’s looking at Shiro like Keith does when he wants something, like just any kid looking at their parents. And that makes the same butterflies swell up in his stomach as when Allura smiles at him.

“That sounds pretty cool to me,” he says, and honestly a spaceship bunk bed sounds freaking awesome.

“You’re weak, Shirogane,” Allura says.

“You’re a sore loser,” he retorts and then whispers, “Also imagine them at sixteen trying to jam themselves into that thing.”

“Objection withdrawn,” Allura says. “Yes, you can pick out your bunk beds.” She shoots Shiro a look from the corner of her eye that says clearly that she’s still going to do her best to scheme them into picking something more suitable to her tastes.

Lance and Keith cheer and high five. “Final demand,” Lance says. “We want chocolate waffle supreme from Benedicte for breakfast, and we don’t want to share.”

“Plenty of leftovers,” Shiro says to her.

“Mimosa bar,” she says.

“Yep,” Shiro agrees. “Ok, go upstairs and get dressed.”

Keith scrambles to grab all the construction paper, Lance says, “Ok, you can be my mom’s boyfriend,” and they’re gone in a whirlwind.

Allura leans over and kisses his cheek. “Parental and child approval,” she says. “Totally in the clear.”

“And all it’s going to cost me is the internal harmony of your furniture collection.” He dodges out of the way before her punch can land on his shoulder.

“Insufferable,” she huffs and starts to head back to the stairs, but Shiro grabs her arm and pulls her back.

He kisses her, long and slow, a hand threading through the mess of her hair. Her arms wrap around his waist, and she lets out a content little sigh. “I’d give just about anything,” he says lowly when they break apart. “If they had really asked, I’d do almost anything to keep us all together.” He pushes a lock of hair behind her ear and pulls in a steadying breath.

“I know it hasn’t been that long, but—um—I waited a really long time to find you, and I never want to let you go,” Shiro says. A smile starts to stretch her lips. She knows exactly where he's going with this. “I love you, Allura.”

“I love you too, Takashi,” she says and kisses him.

“Less gross kissing, more getting dressed for chocolate waffles,” Lance suddenly yells, and they look over to see the boys standing in the doorway, Keith with his hand over his eyes and a little frown in place.

“Well same goes to you,” Allura says, marching over and turning them around and back to the stairs.

“We are dressed,” Keith protests.

“The high for today is supposed to be fifty-one degrees, and this is not Canada,” Allura says firmly. “You are not wearing shorts out to breakfast.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1: Seriously, thank you so much to everyone who's left comments and kudos! I think Voltron might be the most comment heavy fandom I've written for and seriously, y'all give me life  
> 2: So far I've been going on weekly updates for this story, but it might slow down some. Or the new season might slap me in the face with a frenzy of motivation. I'll do my best for y'all, but just a heads up.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahaah wow I'm so sorry this took me so long to get up. I managed like 100k of other stuff that I don't really intend to post but complete writer's block for this story. I'll try to be better for the next chapter. Thank you to everyone who's left comments and kudos. Again, I'm sorry I kept y'all waiting.

It becomes quickly apparent that Keith and Lance have very different opinions on baseball. Lance and Hunk are old enough this year to be out of T-ball, which they are both excited about, but their primary concern remains that they get free snow cones after each game. They also both appreciate that the baseball fields are in the same park as a truly spectacular play place that they will have free rein of while waiting for the other games to finish up.

Keith, on the other hand, while he does appreciate a good snow cone, is in it for the game. He has a very good arm, and he proves on the first practice that he’s good enough to pitch for the team, instead of them needing to rely on the coach or a machine. He works hard during the practices and in the backyard with Shiro and Lance.

The thing with kids and sports is it’s usually pretty obvious which ones have the talent and the drive to actually be good and which ones are there just for the fun of it or because it’s just a thing you do at that age. Keith is there to be good, as is one other boy on the team. Rolo is the best hitter, to the point that nine times out of ten, the kid is going to make contact with the ball. They rarely see him get a flat out strike.

And that frustrates Keith to no end, because with every hit, Rolo gets more and more cocky, and kids can be mean.

Shiro watches with a wince as Keith storms off the mound and into the dugout. His face is turning that shade of red that says he’s trying his very hardest to not have a breakdown. Shiro moves off the bleachers to go comfort him, but Lance beats him to it. “I know you’re trying really hard, but it’s just a game,” Lance says, scooting close to him on the bench. “It’s supposed to be fun.”

“I know,” Keith says between clenched teeth. “I just—he’s—I can’t get anything past him, and even when I almost do, Henry can barely catch. And—and we keep getting stuck with Iverson, and he messes up every call. He sucks so much.”

“Keith,” Shiro says warningly.

“He does though,” Lance insists.

Shiro sighs. He definitely agrees. Iverson seems to not realize that these are kids, young kids at that, and he’s far too critical of them.

Keith hangs his head. “I just want to have fun,” he says miserably. “Like when we play at home.”

Shiro pulls his son into his side, wrapping him up in a half hug. Lance sits there for a moment with a thoughtful frown. Then he says, “Hang on,” and runs off for the coach. They talk for a moment, Lance bouncing on the balls of his feet, and then the coach nods. Lance darts back over, colliding with the dugout wall. “Come on, Keith,” he says breathlessly. “Come on. We’re gonna try again.”

“Lance,” Keith starts, but Lance just grabs his arm and drags him back to the mound. Lance leaves him there and runs over to the home plate, where the coach is helping one of the boys with getting out of the catcher gear. Lance starts pulling it on for himself and then settles in.

“Ok, let’s give this another shot,” the coach calls. “Rolo, come on.”

“Thirsty for more, huh,” Rolo calls to Keith.

Three pitches go by, and just as before, Rolo hits all of them. Keith frowns darkly, his shoulders hunching up. Then Lance waves and starts making a series of motions with his free hand. Keith squints at him for a moment, confused, but then his expression lights up. Lance shifts just slightly to the side, still properly in the catcher’s box, and Keith lets the ball fly. Rolo swings, but he very clearly misses it as the ball hits neatly in the center of Lance’s glove.

Keith beams, and Lance jumps up cheering. Rolo seethes between them, and yells, “Again. Throw it again.”

“Yeah, good luck,” Lance taunts, and he tosses the ball back to Keith. Every new pitch, Lance makes a new set of motions, ones that Shiro can’t actually make heads or tails of, and now Rolo barely seems able to hit the ball at all. He clips it a few times and manages a couple of ground hits that the basemen scramble to catch, but it’s nothing quite like before.

Finally the coach calls that it’s enough and time for someone else to have a turn. Lance throws off the helmet, and he and Keith run for each other, yelling excitedly and jumping. The coach moves over to speak to Shiro. “Looks like we’re moving Lance from the outfield,” he says with a grin.

Shiro smiles so wide that it kind of hurts. “What just happened?”

“Well, Lance said the three of you spend a lot of time practicing at home and that Keith never gets riled up like that,” the coach says. “So he thought Keith might respond to that setup better. I’ll tell you, I have no idea what signals he was using, but if Keith can read it, I’m keeping them paired up for the rest of the season.”

When practice is over, Shiro scoops both the boys up in a tight hug and spins them around. He feels so proud of them that he just might burst.

``

The day Lance and Keith’s team plays Hunk’s is absolutely picturesque. There isn’t a cloud in the sky, and the temperature couldn’t be more perfect. With Matt and Pidge in tow, they meet up with Hunk and his parents at the entrance to the fields. Shiro, Allura, and the Garretts are wearing matching t-shirts with their sons’ names and numbers—the Garretts’ orange to match Hunk’s uniform, and Shiro and Allura’s purple—and they happily trade giant foam fingers in opposing colors.

As they settle into the bleachers, Matt wrestles one of them onto his sister’s head. For a moment Pidge looks alarmed—and not entirely unlike a cat who just got a brain freeze—but then she refuses to let anyone take it off. She runs up and down the row in front of them, screeching excitedly at seeing Keith on the pitcher’s mound.

When Hunk comes up to bat at the top of the fourth, Lance jumps up from the catcher’s box to pat him enthusiastically on the shoulder. Keith gets two strikes by him, but Hunk hits the third pitch. Hunk is a mini powerhouse, and the ball goes sailing over the heads of the kids. The outfielders scramble after it, and Lance jumps up again, cheering just as loud as their parents.

Hunk makes it around to second, and Keith waves brightly at him. “Good job,” he calls.

One more hit goes by, and it allows Hunk to score. Lance catches him in a big hug, and Keith runs in to give him a high five. Hunk beams and waves at his parents.

Keith strikes the next kid out with three fast balls—Allura screams, “That’s my babies,” so loud next to him that Shiro is sure his ear drum is a little ruptured—and the game is called after the fourth inning. The kids do the customary good game lines, but before they can all run off for the snow cone stand, Rolo jumps in the way. “Yeah, that might not be good,” Shiro says, dumping Pidge back into Matt's lap and running around to get onto the field. Allura is on his heels, and the coach is also moving in.

“Did you let him get that hit,” Rolo accuses, glaring down at Keith and Lance.

“Um, no,” Keith says. “Why would we do that?”

“Why would you be excited when someone on the other team scores,” Rolo asks.

“Because he’s our friend, dude,” Lance says, standing squarely in front of Hunk with murder in his eyes. “Back off.”

“I think you cheated,” Rolo says. “There’s no way that tubby—“

Shiro jumps in just in time to grab Keith around the middle and lift him up. “No, no,” Keith hollers. “Put me down. I’m going to kick his ass!”

“Keith,” Shiro snaps. “That’s enough!”

“Let him,” Lance cries, but he’s being held back by his mother.

“Lance, it’s ok,” Hunk says, but his face is burning red as he stands between his parents.

“No, it isn’t,” Lance hisses. “Nobody gets to talk to you like that.”

“He’s the one that you said was mean to Keith before you started catching, right,” Hunk asks. Lance glares and nods. Hunk shrugs. “He’s just a dumb, jealous bully. And if you punch him, we don’t get snow cones.”

It takes a little while to work it out between all the adults, and Shiro has to keep the collar of Keith’s shirt balled up in his fist, because Keith is still fuming in Rolo’s direction. They’re going to have to have another talk about his first reaction can’t be to punch the problem, but he is proud of Keith immediately standing up for his friend.

Finally the kids are allowed to go get their snow cones, and Keith and Lance walk on either side of Hunk, gushing praise at him for getting such a good hit on one of Keith’s pitches and for scoring a run. Hunk blushes an alarmingly bright red and tries to make them stop, but he looks like he’s about to melt he’s so pleased. It’s freaking adorable.

``

Allura nearly suffers a ruptured ear drum when she brings the boys to the furniture store one day, and they realize that they’re going bunk bed shopping. “About time,” Lance cries, darting up to the first model he sees. “We’ve been waiting forever.”

They’ve been waiting hardly three months, but neither of the boys is particularly patient.

Shiro and Keith moving in with them means that Allura is in full-on organization mode. Lance’s room, now to be shared with Keith, will have to be completely reimagined. It’ll be a pain and will cost a pretty penny, but she’s at least glad she decided to use the bigger of the bedrooms for Lance when they moved into the house. Originally the decision had been made solely for play space for the little boy, but now it will have the benefit of adding a new dresser and all of Keith’s things without having to do a total swap on both rooms.

And on the plus side, she’s been waiting for an excuse to redo her own closet and clean out the attic.

Finding the right beds is a hassle. Of course the boys attempt to stick to their guns about wanting the coolest beds they can find, and she has to keep reminding them that they both have a lot of growing left to do. “You want to be able to fit on the bed when you’re in high school, right,” she asks, ushering them away from a set that she is positive her feet would hang off if she tried lying down on it.

There’s a debate between one with a slide and one with a rock wall instead of a ladder, which she isn’t really enthused about considering sluggish mornings or trips up in the middle of the night. She forbids the one with a basketball hoop attached. That is a recipe for disaster and broken light fixtures. They at least all agree that they should find one with a trundle attached to the bottom bunk. They consider a triple layered bed for a brief moment, but they’d physically outgrow that even faster than the shorter bunks.

She watches horrified as they both run for one shaped like a T-rex head and then thanks God they both don’t like the ones shaped like trucks and tractors. There’s one they like that’s a tree house with a slide. She doesn’t entirely hate it. It at least has some potential for Coran to work on when the boys get older and grow out of the theme. She tries a few times to convince them of something actually built into the wall. It would allow them shelving and storage space, but that’s completely unappealing to a pair of second graders.

It takes two weeks and a lot of intense debate, but they finally settle on a set with a slide, a ladder, and a swing rope. She is not at all into the swing rope. That just seems like something else that’s going to cause trouble, but at least the placement of the slide will allow Coran to build a set of cubbies underneath.

``

Shiro braces himself for the onslaught of noise as the car door opens and Lance and Keith climb into the back. They talk over each other, trying to be the one who gets to tell him the most about what happened at school that day.

“Shiro, where are we going,” Keith asks as he makes a different turn. “This isn’t the way to the library.”

“No, we’ve got some really important errands to run,” Shiro says. He taps his fingers on the steering wheel. Big errands. Life changing errands.

The boys tumble out of the car almost as soon as he has it in park. “So, where are we going,” Lance asks, and his eyes light up. “Oh, can we get ice cream?”

“Maybe,” Shiro says, reaching out to grab Lance’s arm before he can dart off. “Hey, I actually need to talk to you both. The errand we need to do today, like I said, it’s important, and it’s a big secret, and I’m going to need your help.”

The boys lean in close. “Lance, I’m going to ask your mom to marry me,” Shiro says, and the boys explode.

“Finally,” Keith cries, and Lance looks about ready to vibrate right out of his skin. He grabs hold of Keith’s sleeve and shakes him wildly. Keith just shakes him back with equal fervor. “We thought you were gonna chicken out and never do it.”

Shiro takes a brief moment to thank every deity he knows of that Matt isn’t around to overhear that, because he would never live it down. It would be in the best man speech. His fiftieth birthday. His retirement party. Probably at his funeral too, provided Matt doesn’t kill himself early on in a lab explosion.

“No, I’m not going to chicken out,” Shiro says, “but this is a big deal, so I needed to give it some time. Most people don’t get married as fast as they do in Disney movies.”

“Well, they should,” Lance says. “If you like them that much.”

“Is that why you asked Hunk to marry you on Valentine’s Day,” Keith asks. “He was the only one you gave a Ring Pop to.”

Lance jumps and covers his mouth. “Shut up!”

“Ok, boys, ok,” Shiro says. “Come on.” He takes their hands to walk them through the parking lot—they’re back to bickering on either side of him, and it’s a real danger that they’ll start trying to chase each other and get flattened. They get inside the jewelry store, and the debate on whether or not Lance has a crush on Hunk—adorable, Shiro is going to have to revisit this later with Allura—gets sidelined as they’re distracted by all the glittery gems.

“Sorry,” he says to the saleswoman, pulling the boys back from pressing their noses against a display. “I’m proposing to my girlfriend, and I told our kids they could help pick the ring.”

“That’s adorable,” she says and introduces herself as Irene. “Ok, guys,” she says, coming around the counter and holding out her hands, “what do we think your mom’s going to want?”

Keith nudges Lance forward, and Lance puffs up his chest. “Rose gold,” he says without a hint of hesitation. “Champagne stone, if you have it. A pink diamond is too pink. Round cut, but oval is ok too.”

Irene looks up at Shiro with wide eyes, her head dropping into a questioning tilt. Shiro has seen months of the morning routine the two share, watching as they go through and critique each other’s wardrobe choices, and he absolutely cannot be surprised by Lance’s confident assessment.

“Ok, let’s try those out,” Shiro says.

Irene leads the way over to a counter, and Keith asks, “Your mom loves pink. Why wouldn’t she want a pink diamond?”

“She says there’s elegance in subtlety,” Lance answers with a shrug.

It takes careful maneuvering going through the settings. Shiro has been saving, but he doesn’t have Allura’s money. And the kids’ eyes are a lot bigger than his wallet. Both are of the firm opinion that someone as pretty as Allura needs a ring like a princess would have. Shiro agrees, but again, his wallet can’t quite live up to that expectation. Luckily, Irene seems to understand his tight lipped smiles perfectly well, and although he knows she’d rather make the bigger sale, she’s kind enough to steer the kids in a safer direction.

“Thanks,” he mutters at her.

“I let my kids help me pick something for my wife once,” Irene whispers back. “I know exactly your pain right now.”

Lance’s knowledge helps them narrow down the search pretty quickly, and they get everything settled far faster than Shiro thought they would. “Ok, now I just need to know her ring size,” Irene says, scribbling away at a form.

Shiro pulls a ring from his pocket. “I don’t know numbers, but she wears this one a lot,” he says, and Irene takes it. “Um, you don’t have to keep it for long, do you? Because she wears it at least once a week, and—“

Irene laughs. “No, I’ll just match it up really quick, and you can have it right back. No chance of ruining the surprise.” She glances over where the boys and rapidly talking about how cool it is that this is finally happening—they have the bunk beds, their parents are getting married, and a dog is just around the corner. Shiro had been hoping they’d forgotten that.

“At least not on this end,” she muses.

“I’m about to have to offer a huge ice cream bribe,” Shiro sighs.

Although considering how easy all this turned out, the ice cream is less of a bribe and more of a gift of appreciation. They pull into the driveway around dinner time. Shiro unloads their backpacks and grabs the to-go boxes and says, “Hey, boys, wait a minute.”

Lance and Keith hover at the edge of the walkway. “Remember,” Shiro says, “this is a big secret. The ring’s not going to be ready for two weeks, so I need you to keep those lips shut or else we won’t have a surprise.”

“Two weeks,” Lance wails, and Keith shushes him.

“Shut up,” Keith snaps. “You can’t ruin this.”

“I’m not gonna try,” Lance says. “That’s just so long! Can’t you ask her now and then give it to her later when it’s done?”

“That’s not romantic,” Keith says.

“You wouldn’t know romance if it bit you in the butt,” Lance retorts, and Shiro sighs. Well, it was nice while it lasted. He herds them into the house just praying for the best. They’re still squabbling when Allura pokes her head out from the kitchen.

“I know that’s not the first thing I’m hearing as you walk in the door,” she says.

“Nope,” Keith says immediately.

“Sorry, Mom,” Lance says.

They both grin widely, and Shiro can’t even be irritated. He really wants to beam at her too. Allura quirks a questioning brow but lets it slide. “So, what did we decide,” she asks. “Chinese or Italian?”

Lance squeaks, and Keith elbows him hard. “Italian,” Shiro says, saving them. They look like they’re about to burst.

“Ok, well, boys, go change and make sure you put your uniforms in the hamper this time,” she says, and they tear from the room giggling and screeching for each other to be quiet. “What was that about,” Allura asks, reaching out to take the food so he can put away the boys’ bags.

“Big secret. Top level CIA stuff,” Shiro says. “I’ll never break and tell you that we had ice cream before dinner.”

Allura levels him with a solid stare. “There better be cannoli in one of these boxes to make up for that,” she says.

“Lemon meringue and a chocolate,” Shiro assures her, and she pops up on her toes to kiss him. He wants to grab hold of her, kiss her completely senseless, but he can’t get away with that without spilling the rest of the secret. So he just accepts the quick peck and hurries off to deal with the backpacks before his own stupid grin gives him away.

``

The ring comes in a week before the move from the townhouse into Allura’s is finalized. Not that Shiro and Keith have been staying there much at all lately, but it’s a week after the ring is ready that all the furniture has been moved out or sold and he’s signed the papers ending the lease.

It’s been a week of the boys staring holes into his head at every possible moment. A week of Matt’s texts telling him just to get it over with because he can’t stand waiting anymore. A week of trying to only speak to his moms via text because at just the sound of his voice they’ll know he’s up to something big and he doesn’t trust them not to call Allura in their excitement. A week of being pretty sure Coran is going to just appear in his office for either a shotgun talk or with a binder that already has the entire wedding planned out. A week of his stomach churning and the ring burning a hole in his pocket.

He knows she’s going to say yes. Honestly, they haven’t been dating too long—almost a scarily short amount of time considering the last time either of them dated previously—but they have talked about this, how sure they are of each other. It’s just the actual act of asking her that has him all wound up. His hands are sweaty, his stomach rolls, and his heart feels like it’s going to burst out of his chest in the best way possible. It’s almost as amazing a feeling as the morning he signed Keith’s adoption papers.

``

There’s almost a lack of ceremony on move-in day. Shiro takes the afternoon off to bring in the last of his boxes and attempt to cook dinner. _“It’s our first night officially living together,”_ he says with a sweet, nervous sort of smile. _“I’m not going to pull off any miracles, obviously, but might as well at least give it a shot.”_

Allura just looks at the grocery bags on the counter and hopes he hasn’t bitten off more than he can chew. She sees fresh vegetables in need of chopping, and that hasn’t exactly been a good sign in the past. But it’s still incredibly sweet, so she wishes him luck and hangs up the phone to go pick up the boys from school.

They’re even more of a whirlwind than usual getting into the car, not that she expects any less. It’s move-in day, and they’ve been waiting just as anxiously for all of this to be official. “Ready to go home,” she asks, looking back in the mirror, and she very nearly melts as the sheer exuberance of their smiles. Home means only one thing now for all of them. There’s no more being apart.

Pulling into the garage, getting the boys’ backpacks, following the tornado that is them into the house, it’s all the same as it is every day, but there’s still something more to it. It settles warmly in Allura's heart. She’s never going to have to kiss Shiro and Keith good-bye for the night and not see them until at least the next day. She’s always going to have all her boys with her.

Allura puts the bags on their proper hooks and wanders into the kitchen to see the boys up on their toes trying to get a good look at what Shiro is cooking. “You actually think you can pull this off,” Lance asks, and Shiro looks over his shoulder to shoot Allura the most dramatically offended look she’s ever seen.

“Why do you think I can’t cook one simple meal by closely following the carefully written instructions,” he asks, pointing at the recipe he printed out.

“Shiro,” Keith says with a hilarious graveness (the kind only a kid can pull off, but Keith in particular is a master), “I love you, but I’ve seen you burn easy mac.”

Lance looks at Keith and then up at Shiro. “How,” he cries. “It’s right there in the name!”

“He forgot to put in the water,” Keith says. Lance sputters.

“Ok, ok, you little traitors,” Shiro says. “If you keep it up and get on my bad side, then we aren’t making brownies.”

“Caramel or the ones with M&Ms,” Lance asks with narrowed eyes.

“Both,” Shiro says, and the boys cheer in delight.

“Both,” Allura asks, propping her hip against the counter.

Shiro shrugs. “Hey, it’s move-in day.”

“You’re setting up a dangerous precedent for spoiling them,” she warns, a grin threatening to split her face in two.

“We get to help make them, right,” Keith asks, stretching his arms across the counter but still coming up too short to reach the box. Lance’s attempts aren’t any better, but he looks like he’s about to climb right up on Keith’s back to make up the distance, so Allura herds them away.

“Not until you change,” she says, shooing them from the kitchen. “Uniforms in the hamper.” She walks up behind Shiro, looping her arms around his waist. He looks over his shoulder at her with a beautiful smile. “How’s it going,” she asks.

“For once, I’ll be able to go into work tomorrow proud that I have actually physically provided for my family, instead of, you know, just buying takeout for my family,” he answers. Then he knocks the knuckles of his prosthetic against the cabinet.

She surveys the work and then balks. “What the—why are you using cream of mushroom?”

“Got the recipe from Colleen,” Shiro says. “She calls it white trash Mexican casserole. I know that sounds bad, but trust me, what comes out of the oven is a miracle. Or at least it’s a miracle in Colleen’s hands. What I do with it remains to be seen.”

The boys come back downstairs in their usual thunderous whirlwind. “When are we making the brownies,” Keith asks.

“Not until later,” Shiro says. “You want them still warm after dinner, right?”

“Can we go play outside until then,” Lance asks hopefully.

“Bug, it’s raining,” Allura says.

“Yeah, but not thundering,” Lance protests. “Please, Mom!”

Allura turns to look up at Shiro, who shrugs and responds with, “Move-in day.” Allura rolls her eyes and waves the boys on. They dash for the backyard, and she follows after to prop the door to the patio open. She watches them for a moment. Keith makes a beeline for their toy box, pulling out their scooters and a basketball. Lance stands out in the rain, his head tilted up and smiling.

“Think fast,” Keith yells, tossing the ball at Lance.

“Faster than you,” Lance retorts, and they run off for the hoop.

Allura smiles after them and calls to Shiro, “Keep an ear open for screaming. I’m going to change and get laundry started.”

Move-in day isn’t very different from any other day. Shiro has already unloaded and put away the last of his and Keith’s things. The boys are playing, dinner is being prepared, chores will be started, and then Shiro will check over homework while she cleans the kitchen. They’ll go through all the same steps as they do in a usual day, but everything feels lighter. It feels right, like the last piece of the puzzle has finally been slipped into place.

They slip into the bench at the kitchen island, Allura pouring through emails and Shiro reading out news headlines. His arm is along the back of the bench, fingers playing lightly with her hair. Perfect. Serene. Then from outside they hear a very specific thumping noise, followed a couple of seconds later by a loud splash. The pattern repeats again, and Shiro says, “Did they just jump in the pool?”

“I’d protest, but they were soaked to the bone within ten seconds of being outside,” Allura sighs. They boys scream with laughter, engaged in what sounds like a cannonball contest until they hear the distant rumble of thunder. Shiro pops over to the open door and calls for them to come inside immediately, where Allura is waiting with big, fluffy towels. “Leave your shirts and shorts on the porch,” she says, dropping the towels to their heads to keep them from dripping too much water through the house.

She doesn’t bother telling them to go ahead and shower or even just put on dry clothes. It’s about time to make the brownies, and she knows how that’s going to go. Even one pan of brownies is enough for the four of them, but they have two mixes, which means there will be plenty of batter leftover to eat right out of the bowl. “The best part,” Lance had declared to Keith the first time they ever made them. Keith had been skeptical, but he’s a convert now.

The inevitable batter fight breaks out, Shiro and Lance against Allura and Keith. Lance starts it, because he always starts it, by smearing a bit over her nose when she foolishly tries to wipe at his face with a cloth before he’s done. Shiro laughs at her cross-eyed expression, and well, she won’t pretend Lance doesn’t come by some of his behaviors honestly. Allura retaliates by picking up a spoon and launching a glob that hits Shiro right between the eyes.

Keith shrieks with laughter, ducking behind Allura’s legs. For a moment, Shiro stands there in shock. Then he pulls Lance to his side and hoists up the bowl of M&M mix. “Of course, you realize this means war,” he says, and it’s on.

Lance has better aim than any of them, but Keith is ruthless. For a while, it’s trench warfare, both sides flicking spoonful after spoonful across the island. Then they have to go in for close combat, and Shiro commits a war crime by lifting Lance up around the middle and using him as a child shield. “Cheater,” Allura says, scooping Keith up to give him better access reach his dad’s face.

“You’re doing the same thing,” Shiro cries, and the boys giggle breathlessly as they chase each other in circles around the island.

Finally they’re all out of batter, and the kitchen—not to mention themselves—is a mess. “Is any of it even going to end up in the oven,” Allura asks, looking around at all the stains. She’s about to go through an entire tube of Clorox wipes getting all this stuff up. Worth it, she thinks, looking at Shiro making spikes out of the batter stuck in the boys’ hair.

She gets to it while Shiro takes the casserole out of the oven and the boys set the table. They look gleeful at the prospect of getting to eat in their underwear and covered in brownie batter. And the food is actually delicious. Shiro grins at their praise. “Ok, but that means you never get to try Colleen’s, because hers is still better.” Keith makes a loud whine of protest.

“He burned easy mac,” Lance says. “Let him have this.”

“Insulting, but I’ll take it,” Shiro says.

The brownies are finished cooking just as they get the leftovers stored away. “Come help me dish it up,” Shiro says to the boys, pulling out a tub of ice cream. “Also, honey, where are those little wine glass charms?”

“What for,” Allura calls.

“I got some champagne and sparkling grape juice to toast move-in day. Thought we could make it festive,” he answers.

“Should be in the drawer with the bottle openers. Maybe the one next to it with the napkins and crazy straws.” She wipes down the table, realizing she’s probably going to have to do it again after dessert. She hears the clinking of dishes in the kitchen, the bottles popping open, and Lance and Keith both making sudden, delighted noises.

Lance comes in with a tray holding all the bowls of brownies and ice cream, Keith on his heels holding plastic glasses with their juice and little charms on the stems. They put everything onto the table, but don’t climb back into their chairs. They stand there, Lance bouncing so much he’s nearly vibrating and Keith staring at her intently. She’s about to ask, but then Shiro comes in with their champagne, an oddly nervous look on his face. He briefly shoots the boys an exasperated but very fond glance before turning shining eyes back to her, and Allura realizes something is about to happen.

“Before we dig in, I just—I wanted to tell you, Allura,” he says. “This, us all together, I never expected it. I didn’t think I was ever really going to find someone that means to me what you do, and then I got a call from the principal’s office because my kid punched yours and—I can’t believe that’s the thing that brought me to the love of my life. I love you, Allura, and you, Lance, and nothing could make me happier than the two of you being our family. So, here’s to move-in day.”

Allura’s heart leaps into her throat as he holds out a flute for her. There’s a charm on the stem, a little glittery star, but that’s a little less important than the diamond ring hooked onto it. “Allura, honey, will you—“ Shiro doesn’t get to finish asking. Allura hurls herself into his arms, kissing him and spilling at least half of the champagne. They laugh against each other’s lips.

“Yes,” Allura says, kissing him again. “Yes.”

The boys cheer delightedly and jump into the hug. Shiro scoops them all off the ground, nearly tripping as he tries to spin them. They detangle to allow Shiro to get the ring off the charm and onto Allura’s finger. “It’s gorgeous,” she says, smiling first at Shiro but then knowingly at her son, who puffs his chest out proudly.

“We helped pick it out,” Keith says, holding her hand and looking at the diamond sparkling. “Shiro’s been sitting on it for forever. We thought he was gonna chicken out.”

“Will you two stop,” Shiro cries, laughing.

“Three weeks, Mom,” Lance cries dramatically. “We got it three weeks ago, and we had to keep it a secret.”

“That’s actually very impressive,” Allura says. “And really, Shirogane, three weeks?”

“Two of those weeks was the ring being sized and fitted,” he defends himself. “I only accept one-third of these accusations.”

``

Move-in night is the best night Allura has had in a long time. Her boys are with her, and there’s a ring on her finger that she can’t stop smiling at. After everyone has showered and changed into pajamas and homework is finished and put into backpacks, the boys beg for a movie in the game room, which always means an extensive cuddle fest, which is absolute the mood she’s in right now. Shiro and Keith pick out the movie while Allura and Lance set to making the perfect pillow and blanket pallet on the floor.

Lance is the first to fall asleep, curled up against her side. Allura catches herself dozing a few times, and it’s anyone’s guess if she goes next or Keith does. But when she wakes up the next morning, they’re all still together on the floor. The boys have shifted, Lance sprawled over all three of them, and Keith upside down with his head using Shiro’s knees as a pillow and one foot shoved nearly under his father’s chin.

It’s still dark outside, the rain pattering on the roof and threatening to lull her right back to sleep. But then she sees Shiro awake and smiling at her. Everything in this moment is perfect.

It’s perfect until Shiro mutters that they should think about getting up and making breakfast. It’s perfect until he reaches out for his phone and frowns at the screen. “Crap,” he says. “It must not have been plugged in all the way. It’s dead.”

Allura reaches for hers on the table and unlocks it. She bolts upright when the time stares back at her. “Holy shit, it’s seven-thirty,” she yells.

Lance and Keith snort awake, and Shiro cries, “What?”

Allura scrambles up. “Shit! I have a meeting in less than an hour.” She grabs at her hair and can feel just how wild it is. She’ll need a shower. There’s no hair tie on earth that could contain her hair properly in this state. “I’m going to be in a board of directors meeting with wet hair!”

“What happened,” Lance asks, still half asleep but looking a little alarmed. Keith is curled around his back, holding tight to Lance’s shirt and squinting at them.

Shiro attempts to flip the light on, but there’s nothing. “Oh, hell, the power went out. That’s why my phone didn’t charge. Crap, honey, there’s no way we can both get to work on time and get the kids to school.”

There’s a beat of silence where Allura’s mind races, trying to time out everything, remembering how traffic works on different roads, wondering if they have anything that can be used as breakfast on the go, just to save a few more minutes, and then Lance suddenly raises his hand and says, “We volunteer as tribute.”

Another beat of silence and then Shiro snorts so loud it sounds painful. Allura laughs so hard she can barely breathe and tears blur her eyes. Lance looks incredibly proud, and Keith just confused. “Oh my God,” Shiro gasps. “Ok, ok, honey, hand me your phone. I’ll call Colleen and let her know the boys will be in late. They can come with me to the office for a bit.”

Allura passes over her phone, still laughing, and hurries to her bathroom, Shiro behind her herding the boys to get dressed.


End file.
